Artwork Page for Envy

Details / Information for Envy

Series Title: The Seven Vices

Envy

1593

Jacob Matham

(Dutch, 1571–1631)

after Hendrick Goltzius

(Dutch, 1558–1617)
Culture
Netherlands, 16th century
Medium
engraving
Support
Cream(3) laid paper
Measurements
Sheet: 33.2 x 17.7 cm (13 1/16 x 6 15/16 in.); Platemark: 32 x 16.3 cm (12 5/8 x 6 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Louise S. Richards 1991.251
Catalogue raisonné
Hollstein 136 (XI.230)
State
?/iii
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

In this print, which comes from a series of fourteen engravings, Envy is shown as an old hag eating a heart, a visual metaphor for the expression "eating your heart out" with resentment. Jacob Matham was Goltzius's stepson and pupil and entered his Haarlem workshop in 1581. A highly prolific engraver, Matham produced prints after artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Abraham Bloemaert (1564–1651), and especially Goltzius. When Goltzius ceased his activities as a printmaker around 1600, Matham took over the workshop.
A vertically oriented engraving depicts Envy, a muscular woman with light skin tone, standing in a dark arched niche. Facing right, she bites a heart held in her right hand while her left arm extends forward, gripping a cluster of snakes. She has long, wavy hair. Small shields featuring a snake and a dog flank the top of the arch, while Latin text is inscribed across the bottom.

Envy

1593

Jacob Matham, Hendrick Goltzius

(Dutch, 1571–1631), (Dutch, 1558–1617)
Netherlands, 16th century

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