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"Turn aside the Sharp Sword" [fol. 44 recto]

French early 16th Century

1514

ink

paper

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Renaissance Renaissance Allegory

Dominant colour

"Turn aside the Sharp Sword" [fol. 44 recto] is a 1514 ink by French early 16th Century, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.

Who painted this?: French early 16th Century
When & what style?: 1514 · Renaissance
Where can I see it?: National Gallery of Art

About this work

This sketch shows a grown man in armor holding a sword, pointing it at a small child. The man wears a feathered helmet and tight, patterned clothes. The child stands barefoot, looking scared, with a simple cloth wrapped around its waist. The ground is rough, and there are a few scattered lines below them that look like broken pots or rocks. The title hints this might be a warning—"Turn aside the Sharp Sword"—but the image itself doesn’t explain why. The man’s aggressive stance and the child’s fear make it feel like a lesson or a moral story. If you like this, check out the Renaissance movement for more art that mixes symbols and stories.

About the artist

Artist

French early 16th Century

A French draftsman from the early 1500s filled sheets of laid paper with tiny, sharp-tongued instructions—ink sketches paired with warnings like “Do Not Eat Your Heart Out” or “Feed Not Things That Have Sharp Claws.”…

See the richer artist page