Object Details
Artist
Hendrick Goltzius
Date
ca. 1594
Medium
Chiaroscuro woodcut
Dimensions
Image: 13 5/8 x 10 3/8 inches (34.6 x 26.4 cm)
Sheet: 15 1/2 x 11 3/8 inches (39.4 x 28.9 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the Herbert F. Johnson, Class of 1922, Endowment
Object
Number
84.039.002
As with his engraving of the Farnese Hercules in the next gallery, Goltzius’s Oceanus takes inspir(…)
As with his engraving of the Farnese Hercules in the next gallery, Goltzius’s Oceanus takes inspiration from ancient sculpture he saw while in Rome in 1592. It is an inventive “completion” of the Belvedere Torso, a Hellenistic sculptural fragment missing arms, head, and legs that formed part of the papal collection in Rome from the late fifteenth century onward. Many artists, including Goltzius and Michelangelo, took on the game of completing the torso in drawings, prints, and paintings.
(“Undressed: The Nude in Context, 1500-1750,” text by Andrew C. Weislogel and presented at the Johnson Museum February 9-June 16, 2019)