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| Hendrik Goltzius Alexander and Bucephalus (Quirinal) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Alexander and Bucephalus (Quirinal) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617) made "a long-awaited journey to Italy" in 1590 when he was in his early thirties and already established as a significant Dutch artist. "In Rome, he appears to have wanted to create a series of engravings of famous works of art like his Farnese Hercules, in particular classical statues, based on new and reliable drawings made on the spot." The vivid engravings of classical statues published by Goltzius have appeared here several times, but the original Roman drawings that preceded those engravings have not. A good number of those were acquired by Queen Christina of Sweden in Rome, though not until several decades after the death of the artist. Christina's albums of drawings ultimately passed to Teylers Museum in Haarlem, where they have remained. In labeling them here, I have followed Francis Haskell's titles for the statues as published in his essential reference, Taste and the Antique (Yale, 1981).
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| Hendrik Goltzius Pasquino (Piazza del Pasquino, Rome) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Wolf (Capitoline) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Belvedere Antinous (Vatican) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Belvedere Torso (Vatican) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Nile (Vatican) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Tiber (Louvre) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Farnese Flora (Naples) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Venus Felix (Vatican) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Trophy of Marius (Capitoline) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Trophy of Marius (Capitoline) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Laocoön (Vatican) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
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| Hendrik Goltzius Lion attacking a horse (Capitoline) 1590-91 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
The lion sculpture with horse fragment (above) is known to have been on view in Rome as early as the 1300s. Drawing the lion during his Roman expedition of 1590-91 Hendrik Goltzius recorded a significant moment in its existence. Just a few years later an entire, newly-carved horse-head-and-neck was added to the original trunk – a 'restoration' – to tremendously unfortunate effect. And the piece remains in this same sadly-improved condition four centuries later.