Hendrik Goltzius

Hendrick Goltzius (, ; né Goltz; January or February 1558 – 1 January 1617) was a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He has been described as the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, lauded for his sophisticated technique, technical mastership and "exuberance" of his compositions. According to A. Hyatt Mayor, Goltzius "was the last professional engraver who drew with the authority of a good painter and the last who invented many pictures for others to copy". In the middle of his life he also began to produce paintings.

Early life Goltzius was born near Viersen in Bracht or Millebrecht, a village then in the Duchy of Julich, now in the municipality Brüggen in North Rhine-Westphalia.

After studying painting on glass for some years under his father, he learned engraving from the Dutch polymath Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, who then lived in Cleves.

Under Coornhert’s guidance Goltzius developed the technical foundations of printmaking and became familiar with the humanist artistic culture that connected artists, printers, and scholars across the Netherlands and the Rhineland.

In 1577, at about the age of nineteen, Goltzius moved with Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert to Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, where he remained based for the rest of his life.

In 1590 Goltzius travelled through Germany to Italy, where he studied the works of Michelangelo and other Italian masters. He returned to Haarlem in 1591 and continued to work there for the rest of his life.

He also executed a number of chiaroscuro woodcuts. His portraits, though mostly miniatures, are notable for their finish and characterization. His life-size self-portrait is among his most striking works.

According to A. Hyatt Mayor, an American curator and historian of prints, Goltzius "was the last professional engraver who drew with the authority of a good painter and the last who invented many pictures for others to copy".

His approach to engraving was shaped in part by a childhood injury. When he was still a child he fell into burning coals, an accident that left his right hand permanently deformed and unable to fully extend the fingers. This led him to draw and engrave using the larger muscles of his arm and shoulder, contributing to what has been described as a "commanding swing of the line".

He developed a highly refined technique in the use of the burin, bringing to a high level what has been described as the "swelling line", in which engraved lines vary in thickness to create tonal effects. He also employed a "dot and lozenge" method, placing dots within cross-hatched areas to refine shading.

According to the catalogue of German art historian and cataloguer of prints Friedrich Wilhelm Hollstein, 388 prints are attributed directly to Goltzius, with a further 574 produced by other printmakers after his designs.

Public collections Lot and his Daughters (1616) in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

Most major print rooms will have a group of Goltzius's many engravings. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Blanton Museum of Art, Austin University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City British Museum, London Los Angeles County Museum of Art Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

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