Art Institute of Chicago

Proserpine, plate five from Demogorgon and the Deities

Hendrick Goltzius

Date

c. 1588–90

Medium

Chiaroscuro woodcut in black and two shades of gray on paper

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Although Goltzius's advances in line engraving found many followers, few pursued his equally original exploration of chiaroscuro woodcuts. This is one of a series of six oval-format chiaroscuro woodcuts of male and female goddesses. Persephone was abducted by Pluto to Hades and retrieved for six months each year by Demeter, her mother; with the establishment of this natural cycle, she is considered a symbol of fertility.

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