The Great Hercules or 'Knollenman'

1589

Hendrick Goltzius

(Dutch, 1558–1617)

Culture

Netherlands, 16th century

Medium

engraving

Support

Cream(3) laid paper

Measurements

Sheet: 56.3 x 40.1 cm (22 3/16 x 15 13/16 in.); Image: 54.2 x 40 cm (21 5/16 x 15 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1995.38

Catalogue raisonné

Hollstein 143 (VIII); New Hollstein XXIV.pt. 1.257.156, state I/II

State

I/II

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Location

Not on view

Description

The exaggerated and unnatural musculature of this figure may suggest that the Netherlandish artist Hendrick Goltzius had never studied a real human body. Indeed, he pulled from a mixture of sources including classical sculpture, Italian art, and his imagination. Goltzius ushered in Mannerism in Northern Europe, a style that featured exaggerated forms and metaphorical and allegorical subject matter. Known for his skill with an engraving burin, he transformed the technique, creating engraved lines that taper and swell to emphasize volume and form to extreme effect.