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Tantalus

Hendrick Goltzius and Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem

Tantalus

1587

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Tantalus

1587

Physical Qualities Engraving, Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 329 x 331 mm. (12 15/16 x 13 1/16 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, in Honor of Jay McKean Fisher, Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs
Object Number 2005.47
As figures tumble in space, their bodies twist from unexpected angles and perspectives. These four tondo, or circular, prints flanking the doorway are known as The Four Disgracers. The series represents a masterful collaboration between printmaker Hendrick Goltzius and painter Cornelius van Haarlem. Goltzius transformed van Haarlem’s designs into these richly engraved–and daringly conceived–scenes of humans being expelled from the realms of gods for their hubris. With swelling and powerful lines, Goltzius demonstrated his command of the burin (engraver’s tool) and van Haarlem’s extraordinary representation of man’s fall from grace.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2005; Mrs. Ruth Kainen, Chevy Chase, Maryland
Elizabeth Rodini et al., BMA, "Printed Sculpture/Sculpted Prints," 14 November 2007 - 23 March 2008, no. 19, p. 8, ill. p. 6.

BMA, Jacobs Gallery 5 rotation, June 13, 2023 - January 8, 2024.

Signed: 1

Inscribed: lower center in plate: "C.C. Pictor Inue. / HGoltzius Sculpt. / A° 1588"; around edge in plate: "TANTALVS IN MEDYS RESIDENS SITIT ARIDVS VNDIS, QVAM MISER, INTER OPES QVI MALE VIVIT INOPS. HAVD FORTVNAE QVISQVAM PVTET ESSE BEATA, ILLA BONIS PROSVNT, ILLA NOCENTQ MALIS."

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Plate 17 from the series "Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book II"
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