The Annunciation, 1594

Not on View

series Title

The Life of the Virgin (Plate 1)

Medium

engraving on laid paper

Dimensions

plate: 47.3 x 35.3 cm (18 5/8 x 13 7/8 in.)

sheet: 48.2 x 36.1 cm (19 x 14 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

Catalogue Raisonné

New Hollstein 1996, no. 8, State v/vi

Accession Number

2012.92.552

Artists / Makers

Hendrick Goltzius (artist) Dutch, 1558 - 1617

Claes Jansz Visscher (publisher) Dutch, 1586/1587 - 1652

Image Use

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

Inscription

in image, on a plaque at bottom centre: HG / Ao. 1594.; in image, numbered to left of plaque at bottom center: 1; in image, on plaque at bottom left: SERENISSIMO PRINCIPI, AC IL- / LVSTRISSIMO DNO, D. GUILIELMO. V. / COMITI PALAT. RHE. UTRIUSQ. / BAVARIAE DUCI, etc. / Ut mediis Proteus se transformabat in undis, / Formosae cupido Pomonae captus amore: / Sic varia PRINCEPS TIBI nunc se Goltzius arte / Commutat, sculptor mirabilis, atque repertor. / C. Schonaeus (To the exalted Prince and August Lord, the lord William V, Count Palatine and Duke of the two Bavarias, etc. As Proteus changed amidst the waves out of burning love for the beautiful Pomona, so does Goltzius, the admirable engraver and inventor, with his varied art, for you, Oh Prince.); below image, in plate: Pone metum virgo, celsi tibi nuncius adsum / Missus ab arce poli, paries intacta stupente / Natura, ut veterum cecinêre oracula Vatum, / Teque Dei matrem totus venerabitur orbis. (Be not afraid, girl, I am here, sent as a messenger from the kingdom of heaven on high; a virgin, you shall bear a child to the astonishment of nature, according to the predictions of the ancient Prophets, and the whole world will worship you as the mother of God); below image, in plate at right: CJVisscher excudit. / N. 47

[Latin translations from Leeflang, Huigen, and Ger Luijten. _Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617): Drawings, Prints and Paintings._ Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2003, p. 210.]

Provenance

(Pasquale Iannetti Art Galleries, Inc., New York); Ruth Kainen, Washington, D.C., purchased February 9, 1990; Gift to NGA, 2012.

Associated Names

Kainen, Jacob, Mrs.
Pasquale Iannetti Art Galleries, Inc.

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. 9, iii/iv

1993: The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Hendrick Goltzius, Marjolein Leesburg, author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 8, v/vi