The Bearer of the Banner of the Canton Glarus
Urs Graf Swiss
Not on view
Conceived as part of a series of standard-bearers personifying the thirteen cantons of the Swiss Confederacy, this drawing depicts a mercenary from Glarus. The saint on the banner is the sixth-century Irish monk Fridolin, who converted the canton to Christianity. The importance given to him makes him appear almost alive, but his meek expression contrasts with the vigorous stance of the fashionably dressed standard-bearer. Having served as a mercenary himself, Graf captured probably better than any other sixteenth-century artist the vitality of the period as well as its brutality. His often unorthodox subjects are matched by his exuberant, calligraphic manner of drawing. This late work is the better of the two drawings by Graf in the Museum's collection, both acquired in the last twenty years.
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