Landscape with a Waterfall, from Four Small Landscapes
1597/1600, printed 1605/20
Medium
Chiaroscuro woodcut in black, ochre, and green with additions of white gouache on blue ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate/sheet: 11.2 × 14.8 cm (4 7/16 × 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
72396
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Reminiscent of the Venetian landscape woodcuts made after paintings and drawings by Titian and Domenico Campagnola, this landscape shows a fisherman battling the force of a waterfall. In the first impression, Hendrik Goltzius heightened the print by hand with white gouache. The second impression is the final work and was created from multiple woodblocks.
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...