The German Guard Countered
€120
- Cartographer
- Pierre Jacques François Girard
- Date
- 1740
- Publication
- Traité des armes · Den Haag, P. de Hondt, 1740
- Plate
- 58e planche · p. 89
- Medium
- Hand-colored engraving heightened with gold
- Condition
- Light toning and scattered small marks. Old handwritten inscription in the upper margin. The reverse shows the image through the paper and some darkening along the edges.
About this piece
Heightened with gold!
Beautiful hand-colored engraving heightened with gold from Pierre Jacques François Girard’s Traité des armes. Den Haag, P. de Hondt, 1740.
58e planche · “Garde Allemande Combatüe”
Two swordsmen demonstrate how to counter the German guard. The fencer in red lunges from the left as the blue-coated swordsman holds his ground, his free hand open in front of him. Girard describes slipping over the opposing blade and thrusting on the inside while keeping the free hand in opposition.
The contrasting scarlet and blue coats and yellow stockings give the scene much of its character. Gold catches the edges of the black tricorns and picks out details on the sword hilts.
Girard’s illustrated manual documents small-sword fencing, foreign guards and the weapons and drills of the French military in the eighteenth century.