The Art Gallery at the Athenaeum contains one of America’s unique collections of 19th century American paintings. Each week we will feature a different work on this page. We hope educators will use this link as a tool to enrich their art curriculum. Vermonters and other citizens throughout the nation can now visit our gallery in this new, intimate, and informative way.
The text describing each painting was written by Mark D. Mitchell, Assistant Curator of Nineteenth-Century Art at the National Academy Museum. The digital images were prepared by Robert Jenks of Jenks Studio of Photography in St. Johnsbury, VT.
Please note that the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum prohibits the use of images from its collection in public exhibition, broadcast, electronic reproduction or publication in any form without prior written permission from the institution. If you would like to reproduce any of the Art Gallery images in any form, contact Irwin Gelber at 748-8291, extension 307.
John Beaufain Irving (1826-1877), American
The Halberdier— XVIth Century, 1874
OIL ON PANEL, 14 x 10 inches
Gift of Horace Fairbanks
Halberdiers are foot soldiers named for their weapon, a long-handled poleax used against horsemen. In the modern era, the halberdier's role is largely ceremonial, most famously serving as the Pope's Vatican guard. In medieval and Renaissance times, however, halberdiers were celebrated warriors who were the primary defense against armored cavalry before the introduction of firearms.
Appropriately, John Beaufain Irving's halberdier is a man of great swagger. His brilliant red sash, bravado pose, and casual demeanor convey a sense of his proud position. Irving was well known for his historical genre scenes such as this one, though at least one of his peers, John F. Weir, criticized his compositions as overly theatrical when they were exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876.