Hendrick Goltzius

Hendrick Goltzius was perhaps the most influential engraver after about 1580. As he learned to engrave in Haarlem and formed relationships with Antwerp publishers, Goltzius quickly adopted Cort’s swelling line into his work. In this early example from his oeuvre, Goltzius incorporated the swelling line to create a heavily muscled Christ, while constructing narrative vignettes in surrounding niches with more traditional, straight parallel lines to define his forms.

Made for an unknown patron and published in Antwerp, this orthodox Catholic image presents a counterpoint to contemporaneous Reformation imagery being produced in the city. Goltzius depicted Christ with the Cross against a landscape featuring the martyrdoms of the apostles. Six cartouches illustrate six of the seven acts of mercy (feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; shelter the traveler; clothe the naked; visit the sick; visit the imprisoned). Above, a cartouche and verses illustrate the sacrament of marriage. The verses below describe Christ’s blood as the means for the redemption of human sin.