Around 1587 Goltzius drew designs for 12 prints depicting officers and soldiers in landscape settings, which were engraved by his pupil Jacques de Gheyn II. Goltzius himself engraved a related pair of prints, The Captain of Infantry and The Great Standard Bearer. A central figure in the army and civic guard, the standard bearer marked the position of the captain. At this time, the Netherlands were trying to oust their Spanish rulers and these prints were conceived as flamboyant expressions of military pride.