Agony in the Garden (Christ on the Mount of Olives); Plate 2 from The Passion of the Christ
1597. Engraving on cream laid paper, 8 x 5 3/8 inches (204 x 137 mm), thread margins. With an unidentified 18th century interlocking letters C collector's stamp in ochre ink in the lower left (Lugt. 506), and the Victor Conrad collector's stamp in blue ink on the recto (Lugt 5549). Likely one of the copies produced in Goltzius's own studio, printed later, however an early copy. The paper would indicate that this is a late 16th, early 17th century impression.
[New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish): 18; Bartsch: III.20.28; Hollstein: 22].
In this series Goltzius intentionally moved away from his typical flamboyant, swelling lines to adopt a more restrained technique. This was done to emulate the style of the earlier Netherlandish master Lucas van Leyden, reflecting a late 16th-century revival of interest in Lucas's work. The Passion of Christ was extremely popular during Goltzius’s own lifetime and well beyond. This is evidenced by a very deceptive set of copies produced in Goltzius’s own studio and six additional sets of copies dating from the late 1590s to the mid-seventeenth century. In addition to owning two sets of the Goltzius’s original prints, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has three different sets of copies in its permanent collection.
A note on the provenance:
A Doctor of Medicine, Victor Conard was a brilliant clinician and a professor of psychopathology. His career is chronicled in an article by J. Mulnard, published in 1981. According to Mulnard, Victor Conard was also a talented artist who enjoyed drawing, painting, and engraving. His colleagues also knew him as a collector of drawings, prints, and rare editions. His passion for old master prints was likely inherited from his father, Alexandre Conard. Victor Conard was reputed to be highly knowledgeable in the field of Japanese prints. -Fritz Lugt.
Item number: 2472
Price: $700.00
Share: