LOW COUNTRIES, ENGRAVERS OF THE. 



ffiall hare occafion to notice) a diftinguifhed engraver, under 

 the inllruAion of liis father-in-law. He is faid to have been 

 forty years of age before he began to paint. His pidlures 

 are few in number, and their rarity jKrliaps has railed them 

 to a higher value tlian they might elfe have attained. 



But we have to fpeak. of him cliiefly as an engraver. 

 PofTeffing conGderable anatomical knowledge, he drew the 

 human figures admirably, and articufatfed the joints and ex- 

 tremities with fupcrior ikill. But conceiving lymfelf qualified, 

 on his return from Italy, to correft tlie littlenefles and Gothic 

 ftiffncfs of his Dutch and German contemporaries in art, 

 and the taile which prevailed among the connoifl'eurs of the 

 Low Countries, he too frequently ran into the oppofite 

 extreme, and twilled and bent his fingers and his feet, fome- 

 tim-s into abfolute diftortion, in-fpita of nature and his 

 own fupcrior knowledge. While the mania lalled, his in- 

 tended grace became real afieftation, and his grandeur ridi- 

 culous fwaggcring. 



In order to llvew that the revolution in ftyle which he 

 aimed at accomplilhing, was the refuit of fuperior powers, 

 and that it proceeded not from his inability to emulate and 

 excel, at their own weapons, the heroes of Holland and Ger- 

 many, he took a molt effcdual method, in the profecution 

 of which he was eminently fuccefsful. ' He compofcd and en- 

 graved what are termed his chef-d'o;uvres, or tnajler pieces, 

 which fiiew the amazing verfatility of his talents ; and which, 

 though chiefly aimed at the reputations of Albert Durer 

 and Lucas -of Leyden, does not fcruple to provoke com- 

 parifon alfo, with Baffan, with Parmegiano, and even with 

 Rapliael himfelf. 



There had not been \vanting among the connoiffeurs and 

 amateurs of the Low Countries, fome who inlinuated that 

 Goltzius deviated from the llyles of art which had called 

 forth their admiration, becaufe he had fancied or found them 

 to be inimitable. No expedient could more juftly or more 

 completely have filenced thefe obfervations, than the contri- 

 vance and execution of thefe fix large engravings. Before 

 he made public that of which the fubjeft is " The Circum- 

 cifion," and which was defigned to vie with Albert Durer ; 

 and before his general purpofe was known, he bellowed a 

 few years of age on an impreffion, by means of fmokc, and 

 exhibited it in the prefence of a chofen few, who, to the great 

 entertainment and fecret fatisfaclion of our artift, flood in 

 fpcdlacles and in raptures, before the fuppofed engraving of 

 Albert Durer. And, in truth, this print fo very much re- 

 fembles the ver)'' bell works of that mafter, both in defign 

 and execution, as to be icarcely any impeachment of the 

 difcernment of the connoiffeurs who were thus deceived. 



Gohzius might now fearlefsly publifh his mailer-pieces, 

 which he did with extraordinary fuccefs, and in which, after 

 varying his flyle five times in order to imitate feverally the 

 mailers above-mentioned, he finillies the'fetof fix with an 

 " Holy Family," v/hich he meant fhould be underllood as 

 tiie improved flyle of Henry Goltzius, and which clofcs the 

 proceftion, and completes his triumph, — but not the cata- 

 logue of his merits. 



He engraved portraits from his own drawings, in a very 

 mallerly manner, very taftefully uniting excellent drawing, 

 and vigorous effeft of light and fliade, with ncatnefs of exe- 

 ctition. He alfo engraved from his own compofitions on 

 wood, in the manner w-hich is technically termed dare obfcure, 

 or chiarofcuro, in which he differed from Hubert Goltzius, 

 by employing ihree blocks of wood ; on the firll of which he 

 cut his outluie with great boldnefs and fpirit ; the fecond 

 ferved to imprefs the demi-tints, the high lights being cut 

 away ; and the third the deeper fliadows. In the works 

 which he executed in this way, the lights appear as if em- 



boffed, and they are en the whole very mafterly produc. 

 tions. 



The power of Goltzius over his graver, which was the 

 chief inflrument of his art, and the freedom, boldnefs, and 

 copious variety of combination with which he hatched hii 

 cou'rfes of lines, is wonderful, and would have been truly 

 fafcinating, had he adhered to that pure and accurate ftyle 

 of drawing which once diftinguiflicd him, inflead of deviating 

 into extravagance and eccentricity. 



The cypher with which he marked his engravings, when 

 he did not fubicribe his name at length, may be feen in our firll 

 plate of thofe ufed by the engravers of tfie Low Countries. 



We begin our catalogue of his works, which will probably 

 long continue to rank in the very firfl clafs of the arts of his 

 country, with his 



Portraits. — A bull of Gertrand AdriaaufTz Brederods, 

 in an oval, with an allegoric accompaniment of two 

 tigers and a laurel, a very rare print ; Henry III. king 

 of France, an oval, very rare, dated 1592 ; Frederic II. 

 king of Denmark, quarto fize ; William prince of Orange, 

 . in an oval, furrounded with a grotefque border, in folio ; 

 Charlotte of Bourbon, princets of Orange, companion to 

 the preceding ; both engraved in a very delicate flyle ; 

 Theodorus Coornhcrtius ad vivum dcpiftus et acri incifus, 

 ab H. Goltzius, a very rare folio print ; Hans Bol, after 

 Joannes Boltius, a folio print, furrounded with ornaments ; 

 John Stradan, a painter of Bruges, in quarto ; Philip Galle, 

 an engraver of Antwerp, of the fame fize, dated 1582 ; 

 Peter Forct, or Forellus, a Dutch phyfician, in odtavo, 

 dated I'fiS ; Julle-Lipfe, a celebrated critic, infcribed 

 " Moribus antiquis," dated 1587 ; a half-lengtii portrait 

 of John Zurenus, painted by M Hemfkerck, in quarto ; 

 Monfieur de la Faille, infcribi-d " Leges tueri. Harm. 

 Adolfs. exc." in quarto ; Madame de la Faille, companion 

 to the above, (a young woman with a llcull in her hand.) 

 This pair of portraits are executed with extreme delicacy, 

 and are much celebrated. Chrillopher Plantin, a famous 

 printer ; and Francis d'Egmont, completely armed, a half- 

 length portrait, both in quarto ; Robert, earl of Leicefter, 

 general in the United Provinces, 1586, a very fine print, in a 

 fmail oval ; S. Sovius, infcribed, " Bene agere et nil timere," 

 1583, rare ; a half-length portrait of a man meafuring a 

 globe, infcribed " L'homme propofe, et Dieu difpofe," 

 159J. This is believed to be the portrait of Petri, an 

 alfronomer of Amllerdam, in i2mo. A lady fitting in a 

 garden chair, fuppofed to be the portrait of Catherine Dek- 

 ker, of Haerlem, of the fame fize ; bull of a man with a round 

 hat, in 4to. ; bull of a female with a hat, executed entirely 

 with the graver ; half-length portrait of a female, veiled, 

 and covered with drapery, 1606, taftefully engraven in a 

 neat and elaborate ftyle ; and the buft of a man, with a cocked 

 hat, both of quarto fize. ' 



Various SubjeOs from his own Compofitions A circular 



print in quarto, of " Judah and Tamar," one of the 

 earliell engravings of Goltzius. A fet of fix capital 

 prints, which we have particularly noticed in his biography, 

 and which are known by the name of the majlerpicces of Golt- 

 zius. I . The Annunciation, in the ftyle of Raphael. 2. The 

 Vifitation, in the ftyle of Parmegiano. 3. The Annuncia- 

 tion, in the ftyle of BaiTan. 4. The Circumcifion, hi the 

 ftyle of Albert Durer. 5. The Adoration of the Kings., in 

 the ftyle of L. of Leyden. And 6. A Holy Family, in his 

 own flyle, or, according to fome critics, in the flyle of Bar- 

 roccio, all of large folio fize.: it fhoud be known, that in the 

 Circumcifion he has introduced his own portrait. A very 

 rare print of "The Nativity," in large folio, which is un- 

 finiihed ; infcribed Jac. Matham, exc. 1615. "TheAdo- 

 7t ration 



