In the Round: Prints by Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617)

These selections from the Museum’s extensive collection of prints by Hendrick Goltzius illustrate his frequent engagement with circles and ovals as compositional forms for portraits and mythological subjects. A prolific and internationally acclaimed draftsman, engraver, and painter based in Haarlem, Goltzius was described by his contemporary, the art historian Karel Van Mander, as having “heroic strength in drawing and expert handling of the burin [an engraving tool].” Goltzius’s manual dexterity is especially impressive in light of a severe burn that he sustained as a child, which led to the fusing of the tendons in his right hand. Goltzius lived in tumultuous times. Rebellion against Spanish rule in the Netherlands led, in 1581, to a de facto split between the Protestant Dutch Republic in the north and Catholic territories in the south, with a final division in 1648. Several portraits here relate to this protracted conflict. In the artistic sphere, the Netherlands was an early adopter of Italian Renaissance forms, including the portrait medal, which was based on ancient Roman coins. Friends and colleagues exchanged printed portraits and collected them in alba amicorum (friendship books). Some of Goltzius’s earliest commissions were for engraved portrait medals, with patrons ranging from aristocrats to innkeepers.

While the circle’s qualities of balance and harmony have traditionally inspired portrait compositions in Western art, the oval corresponds more closely to the shape of the human face and to the body’s full-length form, reducing blank space around the figure. Thus for the mythological series, in which Goltzius demonstrates his virtuosity in depicting the heroic nude, the oval is an appropriate and strategic choice. 

Holly Borham
Joseph F. McCrindle Intern; Ph.D. candidate, Department of Art and Archaeology