Tantalus

1588

Hendrick Goltzius

Artist, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

  • Dimensions

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

  • Accession

    2012.92.129

  • Catalogue Raisonné

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

Artwork history & notes

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

Associated Names

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

Inscriptions

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.

Wikidata ID

Q76555589

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