Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532-1588), English Nobleman, Governor-General of the United Provinces in 1585-87
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet, trimmed within platemark: 6.1 × 5.2 cm (2 7/16 × 2 1/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
41669
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Like the related genre of painted miniatures, small-scale portrait prints require close inspection and delicate handling. The round format of these prints invites comparisons to oval miniatures and cast medallions. In the case of Goltzius’s portrait of Dudley (and other examples from the artist’s oeuvre), the print matrix—a gold plate—was itself a work of art, and only a handful of impressions were pulled so as to preserve the surface of the soft precious metal. The double status of the print ma...
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...