Tantalus, 1588

Not on View

series Title

The Four Disgracers

Medium

engraving on laid paper

Dimensions

sheet: 33 x 33.1 cm (13 x 13 1/16 in.) (trimmed to plate mark)

Credit Line

Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

Catalogue Raisonné

New Hollstein 1996, no. 325, State i/iii

Accession Number

2012.92.129

Artists / Makers

Hendrick Goltzius (artist) Dutch, 1558 - 1617

Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (artist after) Dutch, 1562 - 1638

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

around image: TANTALVS IN MEDYS RESIDENS SITIT ARIDVS VNDIS, QVAM MISER, INTER OPES QVI MALE VIVIT INOPS; HAVD BONA FORTVNAE QVISQVAM PVTET ESSE BEATA, ILLA BONIS PROSVNT, ILLA NOCENTQ, MALIS (Seated amidst the waves, parched Tantalus suffers agonies of thirst. How miserable is he who lives in abject poverty in the midst of riches! No one should believe that the favours of Fortune bring happiness: they are good for good people and harm the wicked. [Latin translation from Huigen Leeflang and Ger Luijten, et. al, _Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617): Drawings, Prints and Paintings_ Exhibition catalogue. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2003, p.98.]); below image, at bottom: C. C. Pictor Inue. H. Goltzius sculpt. / Ao 1588.

Provenance

Johann Karl Brönner [1738-1812], Frankfurt (Lugt 307); (sale, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt, 1839? (Lugt 2396)). John Chaloner Smith, Dublin? [1] (R.M. Light & Co., Inc., Santa Barbara, CA); [1] Ruth Kainen [1922-2009], Washington, D.C. (Lugt 4739), purchased November 20, 1996; Gift to NGA, 2012.

[1] According to gallery receipt.

[1] Another first state impression of the present composition was purchased from Frederick Mulder in 1986.

Associated Names

Brönner, Johann Karl
Kainen, Jacob, Mrs.
Light & Co., R. M.
Smith, John Chaloner
Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie

Exhibition History

2013: Northern Mannerist Prints from the Kainen Collection, NGA, 2013 - 2014.

Bibliography

1921: Hirschmann, Otto. Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks von Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) mit Benutzung der durch E.W. Moest hinterlassenen Notizen zusammengestellt. Leipzig: Verlag von Klinkhardt und Biermann, 1921. Reprint. Braunschweig: Klinkhardt &Bie; no. 306, i/iii

1993: The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Hendrick Goltzius, Marjolein Leesburg, author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 325, i/iii