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Lot Essay
One of the most important additions to the corpus of Hendrick Goltzius’s drawings after the publication of Emil Reznicek’s catalogue raisonné (Die Zeichnungen von Hendrick Goltzius, Utrecht, 1961), this exceptionally large sheet belongs to a small group of compositional studies in black chalk which focus on the depiction of the female nude. They are executed in a much looser style than generally known from Goltzius, many of whose earlier drawings are demonstrations of his virtuoso penmanship or refined use of metalpoint or chalks in a Mannerist style. In contrast, the black chalk drawings display a softer and more realistic manner. They must have resulted from Goltzius’s studies, either from life, after sculpture and from memory, of nude women, two of which (private collection, and Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. K II 107) are dated 1594 and 1599 (Reznicek, op. cit., 1961, I, nos. K 434, K 442, K 446, II, figs. 334-336; Reznicek, op. cit., 1993, pp. 267-268, no. K 442a, fig. 69).
Apart from an even larger drawing in the Herzog-Anton Ulrich-Museum in Brunswick, depicting Mars and Venus (inv. Z 341; see Reznicek, op. cit., 1993, p. 235, no. K 105a, fig. 27), other very comparable compositional studies are in the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg and the Albertina (Reznicek, op. cit., 1961, I, no. 110, 124 II, fig. 375, 444); the former can be dated to 1603. The function of these drawings is clarified by a fragment of unknown location (probably destroyed in World War II; see Reznicek, op. cit., 1961, no. 108, fig. 445), which was made as a modello for a panel painting in a private collection, depicting Venus and Adonis and dated to around 1600 (Nichols, op. cit., no. A-43, pl. 3). The pose of Venus in this picture is quite close to that of the reclining woman at right in the Kasper drawing, who depicts the nymph Callisto, whom three other figures undress. The seated nude pointing to Callisto on the opposite side of the composition is the goddess Diana. As told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (book II, verses 405-531), Jupiter had forced himself on the hapless nymph in the guise of Diana. Goltzius represents the moment when Callisto’s ensuing pregnancy is discovered by Diana; enraged, she sends away Callisto, who will later be transformed into a bear and ultimately placed in the heavens as Ursa Major.
Goltzius treated the subject in at least three works, which illustrate the evolution of his style. In a print published in 1590 as part of the artist’s ambitious but never finished set of illustrations of the Metamorphoses, the twisted bodies and exaggerated gestures of the figures illustrate his Mannerist style (fig. 1; see M. Leesberg, The New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. Hendrick Goltzius, III, Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, 2012, no. 558 ill.). In a large engraving by Jan Saenredam dated 1599 (fig. 2; see ibid., no. 584, ill), this manner made way for a more classical, natural rendering of the story. The Kasper drawing was probably made slightly later, and represents the culmination of this development. Whether Goltzius ever used the drawing as the model for a painting is not known; if he did, it does not survive.
Fig. 1. Anonymous, after Hendrick Goltzius, Diana discovering Callisto’s pregnancy. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Fig. 2. Jan Saenredam, after Hendrick Goltzius, Diana discovering Callisto’s pregnancy. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Apart from an even larger drawing in the Herzog-Anton Ulrich-Museum in Brunswick, depicting Mars and Venus (inv. Z 341; see Reznicek, op. cit., 1993, p. 235, no. K 105a, fig. 27), other very comparable compositional studies are in the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg and the Albertina (Reznicek, op. cit., 1961, I, no. 110, 124 II, fig. 375, 444); the former can be dated to 1603. The function of these drawings is clarified by a fragment of unknown location (probably destroyed in World War II; see Reznicek, op. cit., 1961, no. 108, fig. 445), which was made as a modello for a panel painting in a private collection, depicting Venus and Adonis and dated to around 1600 (Nichols, op. cit., no. A-43, pl. 3). The pose of Venus in this picture is quite close to that of the reclining woman at right in the Kasper drawing, who depicts the nymph Callisto, whom three other figures undress. The seated nude pointing to Callisto on the opposite side of the composition is the goddess Diana. As told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (book II, verses 405-531), Jupiter had forced himself on the hapless nymph in the guise of Diana. Goltzius represents the moment when Callisto’s ensuing pregnancy is discovered by Diana; enraged, she sends away Callisto, who will later be transformed into a bear and ultimately placed in the heavens as Ursa Major.
Goltzius treated the subject in at least three works, which illustrate the evolution of his style. In a print published in 1590 as part of the artist’s ambitious but never finished set of illustrations of the Metamorphoses, the twisted bodies and exaggerated gestures of the figures illustrate his Mannerist style (fig. 1; see M. Leesberg, The New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. Hendrick Goltzius, III, Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, 2012, no. 558 ill.). In a large engraving by Jan Saenredam dated 1599 (fig. 2; see ibid., no. 584, ill), this manner made way for a more classical, natural rendering of the story. The Kasper drawing was probably made slightly later, and represents the culmination of this development. Whether Goltzius ever used the drawing as the model for a painting is not known; if he did, it does not survive.
Fig. 1. Anonymous, after Hendrick Goltzius, Diana discovering Callisto’s pregnancy. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Fig. 2. Jan Saenredam, after Hendrick Goltzius, Diana discovering Callisto’s pregnancy. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.