Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Drawings by Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617)

Hendrik Goltzius
Half-length figure
ca. 1587
drawing on vellum (verso)
British Museum

Hendrik Goltzius
Studies of heads
ca. 1587
drawing on vellum
British Museum

Hendrik Goltzius of the Netherlands hoped to be remembered by those who lived after him. With brilliant gifts as a draftsman, he produced many high-quality engravings and woodcuts in an elongated Mannerist style, as seen here yesterday. These earned him a large market of fashionable clients and a substantial European reputation. Most of the drawings reproduced here were made as preparation for such engravings. Then in about 1600 Goltzius switched his emphasis to painting, and did so for the stated reason that painters enjoy a loftier level of posthumous fame than print-makers. Alas, he is remembered today only by specialists – and mainly remembered for those early prints he seemingly disesteemed.

Hendrik Goltzius
Study of head & hands of youth
ca. 1585-92
drawing on vellum
British Museum

Hendrik Goltzius
Sense of Hearing
16th century
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hendrik Goltzius
Sense of Smell
16th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Hendrik Goltzius
Lucretia as Sense of Touch
16th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Hendrik Goltzius
Spring
1594
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hendrik Goltzius
Camel
ca. 1589-90
drawing
British Museum

Hendrik Goltzius
The Prophet Daniel in a Landscape
16th century
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hendrik Goltzius
Judgment of Midas
1590
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Hendrik Goltzius
Venus with Bacchus & Ceres
1593
drawing on vellum
British Museum

Hendrik Goltzius
Venus with Bacchus & Ceres
1599
drawing
British Museum

Hendrik Goltzius
Adam & Eve
ca. 1597
drawing
British Museum

Hendrik Goltzius
Fall of Phaeton
16th century
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art