Icarus

1588

Hendrik Goltzius, after Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem

Associated Names
Hendrick Goltzius

Artist, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem

Artist After, Dutch, 1562 - 1638

This is a print of a muscular, nude man falling from the sky. His body is mostly horizontal, with his feet toward us and one leg raised, showing us his feet, groin, and legs, and most of his torso and arms. The man has a powerful, muscular chest and limbs. One of his hands is raised to his head, which is visible in profile looking upward and to the right. His hair floats in the air above his scalp. In the distance, at the bottom of the print, a winged man is visible, with a long beard. He looks upward toward the falling man, one of his arms upraised. In the top left, the sun shines brightly, light radiating outward. The scene is enclosed within a circular border with Latin inscriptions. Below, the background reveals a faintly drawn landscape with a wide body of water interrupted by three large mountains, all covered with buildings.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 32.8 x 33 cm (12 15/16 x 13 in.) (trimmed to plate mark)

  • Accession Number

    2012.92.125

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein 1996, no. 326, State only

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Norman Jack Leitman [b. 1934], San Diego (Lugt 4545). (R.M. Light & Co., Inc., Santa Barbara, CA); Ruth Kainen [1922-2009], Washington, D.C. (Lugt 4739), purchased November 20, 1996; Gift to NGA, 2012.

Associated Names

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. 307, 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. 326, only

Inscriptions

in image, at bottom center: C. C. Pictor Inue / HG. sculp. 2; around image: SCIRE, DEI MVNVS, DIVINVM EST NOSCERE VELLE, SED FAS LIMITIBVS SE TENVISSE. / DVM SIBI QVISQUE SAPIT, NEC IVSTI EXAMINA CERNIT, ICARVS ICARYS NOMINA DONAT AQUIS. (It is something divine to want to acquire knowledge, the gift of God, but man must keep to his limits. As long as everyone has his own wisdom and does not keep the right measure in mind, Icarus gives his name to the Icarian Sea. [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.])

Wikidata ID

Q76555576

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