Pietà (Lamentation of the Virgin)
Maker
Hendrick Goltzius
(Dutch, 1558-1617)
Date1596
MediumEngraving
DimensionsSheet (trimmed to plate): 7 1/2 × 5 3/8 in. (19.1 × 13.7 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, Paul and Miriam Kirkley Fund for Acquisitions
Collections
Object number2006.99
Status
Not on viewHendrik Goltzius was known as an artistic chameleon, so brilliant an imitator of past styles that his prints could be mistaken for those of previous masters. His celebrated engraving of the Pietà—which has been called the pinnacle of Goltzius’s artistic development and a prime example of his masterful engraving technique—is an open homage to Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), one of the artists he most admired, and at the same time an affirmation of Goltzius’s own virtuosity. The composition of the figures may derive from the Pietà of Michelangelo (1475–1564), which Goltzius would have seen on a visit to Rome in 1590.
Hendrick Goltzius
plate circa 1591, impression probably early 18th century
