Foot Combat with Halberds c. 1512 - 1515

This drawing of a foot combat with halberds was made on paper using ink and watercolor, by an anonymous artist. The choice of these materials is very telling. Here, drawing and painting – typically considered “fine art” practices – are employed to depict the material culture of combat, including elaborate metal armors and weaponry. Consider the sheer amount of labor and skill required to produce these armors; they’re essentially wearable sculpture, painstakingly forged to a perfect fit. The halberd weapons, too, would have been made by expert smiths, capable of creating a deadly, yet beautiful tool. This drawing brings these histories of creative practices and aesthetics, alongside that of craft and fine arts, into a single frame. The result challenges the conventional art historical hierarchy, which tends to value the image over the object.