Apollo
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed): 35 × 26.4 cm (13 13/16 × 10 7/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
268231
Art Historical Context
Behold Hendrick Goltzius's *Apollo* (1588), a engraving on ivory laid paper, now housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings Department. Measuring 35 × 26.4 cm, this trimmed sheet captures the radiant Greek god of the sun, music, and prophecy in dynamic pose, exemplifying the Northern Mannerist style that flourished in the late 16th-century Netherlands. Goltzi, a Haarlem-based virtuoso engraver, revolutionized printmaking with his innovative "swelling line" technique—a bold, undulating stroke that mimics the fluidity of brushwork, blurring the line between engraving and painting....
About the Artist
Hendrick Goltzius · 1558–1617
Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) was the most celebrated engraver of the Northern Renaissance and a pivotal figure in Dutch Mannerism. Born near the German-Dutch border, Goltzius transformed printmaking into a virtuoso art form through his revolutionary 'swelling line' technique, where the burin was manipulated to create lines of varying thickness that produced unprecedented tonal effects and three-d...