Jan Harmensz. Muller

The Fight Between Ulysses and Irus

Maker

Jan Harmensz. Muller (Dutch, 1571-1628)
After Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (Dutch, 1562-1638), designer
Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558-1617), publisher

Title

The Fight Between Ulysses and Irus

Year

1589

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

engraving

Supports

Dimensions

Plate: 42.6 x 33 cm (16 3/4 x 13 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--Recto:in pencil, LL:50.17-A-7/ProutéIn Plate--In LR:Aº 1589./C. Cornelij Harlemensis Invent.HGoltzius (H+G in monogram) excud.; nine-line Latin inscription, LC:Sponsus Penlopes, et... (see print for full inscription)

Marks: RISD Museum Stamp in brown ink on verso Watermark:illegible

Identification

State

i/iii

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr.

Object Number

50.321

Type

Publications

  • Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line
Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
Sep 18, 2009 – Jan 03, 2010

Label copy

This engraving after a painting by the mannerist artist Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem exhibits Muller’s tendency toward exaggeration of both the technical possibilities of the engraved line, and of form. A far cry from the ordered hatching at the edges of forms found in prints by earlier engravers, this image utilizes few straight lines: observe the concentric circles that form the back of the central nude figure of Ulysses.

The engraving depicts a scene from Homer’s Odyssey when Ulysses is challenged to a fight by the much younger Irus outside of his home. Ulysses easily wins the fight, which takes place in front of the inhabitants of Ithaca. Here the victorious Ulysses stands above the enormous, and unconscious, body of Irus in front of a crowd of onlookers populated with superfluous objects, such as a basket and a baby, typical of Cornelisz. van Haarlem’s work.

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Prints and Drawings with a Classical Reference
Dec 15, 1965 – Jan 09, 1966

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Jan Harmensz. Muller (Dutch, 1571-1628)
After Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (Dutch, 1562-1638), designer
Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558-1617), publisher
The Fight Between Ulysses and Irus, 1589
Engraving
Plate: 42.6 x 33 cm (16 3/4 x 13 inches)
Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr. 50.321

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