Getty Museum
Portrait of a Man
Creator
Hendrick GoltziusDutch Artist · 1558–1617
All works by this person →Hendrick Goltzius had a "compulsion to make ostentatious display of his virtuosity," a scholar once wrote. If Goltzius showed off, who can blame him? After all, he had the use of only one hand: his right hand had been maimed in a fire, and he was completely unable to extend his fingers. Goltzius arrived in Haarlem at age nineteen. Two years later, he married a rich widow who helped him set up a wo
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1607
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, incised for transfer
- Culture
- Dutch
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- 3bf74dff-5e7d-4211-861e-dd4eaa5ddb2e
From the Getty Museum record
Hendrick Goltzius created this drawing as one of many "fantasy" portraits that he made after 1600. Because he drew the portrait in preparation for a woodcut, he chose his technique accordingly, creating shading and modeling with lines that could be carved in relief in a block of wood. Goltzius had an uncanny talent of emulating the styles of the great masters, which he often displayed in these imaginary portraits. Here he took up Lucas van Leyden's manner, particularly in the flowing hatching of the fur collar and the rounded modeling of the fingers. Goltzius also gave pronounced emphasis to feathers, hair, and fur, aspects of his drawing that epitomized the styles of past Northern European masters. This imaginary portrait seems so lifelike and individualized that earlier scholars identified it with a specific person.
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