The Halberdier

Grasping a long–handled, spiked battle–axe, the armed soldier, or halberdier, is clothed in the traditional red costume of a Swiss fighter. Ferdinand Hodler was commissioned to paint this as part of a cycle of figures to decorate the Pavilion of Fine Arts at the Swiss National Exposition in Geneva in 1896. Intended to celebrate the arts and traditions of the Swiss confederacy, this group of paintings hung on the outside of the pavilion and was meant to be seen from a distance.