Standard Bearer

Prince Rupert’s Standard Bearer, also known as Young David or Great Lansquenet, is one of his first dated mezzotints, created the same year Rupert engraved his Great Executioner. Standard Bearer demonstrates the pitfalls of reproducing Old Masters instead of newer paintings with clear authorship: most were attributed incorrectly, including this former “Giorgione.” Likewise, Valentine Green fancifully reproduced a Rembrandt self-portrait as an image of Rupert himself in 1775; Green’s skill nonetheless convinced Charles Theodore, current Prince and Count Palatinate, to appoint him his official mezzotint engraver.