Ignis

c. 1586

Hendrik Goltzius

Associated Names
Hendrick Goltzius

Artist, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

The image shows a nude male figure standing in a dynamic pose. The man has his left arm extended upwards, holding a stick or scepter, and his right hand holding a spherical object emitting light. His head is turned slightly to his right, and his hair is windblown. The figure has defined facial features with a strong jawline, a straight nose, and high cheekbones. Over his shoulders, there is a flowing piece of cloth that billows behind him. In the background, there is a lion beside the man, a swirl of smoke or mist at his feet, and a faint line of human figures in the distance. The setting is in shades of brown ink and wash, creating an antique feel.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and black ink over red chalk with gray and brown wash and white heightening on pink tinted paper, with pin pricks throughout the figure

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 21.6 x 16.4 cm (8 1/2 x 6 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2012.92.8

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Reznicek 1993, no. K153a

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dr. Gustave Verriest, Louvain, Belgium; his son, Leon Verriest, Hanover, NH; his daughter, Anne Verriest Badgley, Great Falls, VA; Ruth Cole Kainen, Washington, D.C., 1979; Gift to NGA, 2012.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1981

  • Dutch Figure Drawings from the Seventeenth Century. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1981 (not in cat.).

1991

  • Art for the Nation : Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington 1991, pp. 34-35 (color)(entry by John Hand).

2013

  • Northern Mannerist Prints from the Kainen Collection, NGA, 2013 - 2014 (no cat.).

2016

  • Recent Acquisitions of Dutch and Flemish Drawings, NGA, 2016 (no cat.).

Bibliography

1993

  • Reznicek, E.K.J. "Drawings by Hendrick Goltzius, Thirty Years Later: Supplement to the 1961 catalogue raisonné." Master Drawings 31, no. 3 (Autumn 1993): 246, K 153a, fig. 43.

Inscriptions

by the artist at bottom center: HG

Watermarks

Thin laid paper with watermark: Bishop's Crozier in a Crowned Shield (Briquet 1344)

Wikidata ID

Q64573647

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