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Hendrick Goudt,
'constrijcken Plaestsnijder tot
Utrecht'
Tico Seifert, Freie Universität
Berlin
The printed oeuvre of Hendrick
Goudt (1583-1648) consists of only
seven engravings after paintings by
Adam Elsheimer. The impact of these
masterpieces however was enormous.
Goudt did not alone spread
Elsheimer’s works all over Northern
Europe. At the same time his
chiaroscuro engravings strongly
influenced landscape paintings and
prints and the genre of night
scenes.
Goudt’s life and work has not been
researched thoroughly so far. Many
of what we know about him was
published in 1675 by Joachim von
Sandrart. His account of Goudt’s
works and fame is regarded as the
earliest surviving.
In my paper I will present hitherto
overlooked verses by Balthasar
Gerbier. In his lamentation poem on
the death of Hendrick Goltzius,
published as early as 1620, the
painter and diplomat dedicated
sixteen lines to the Utrecht
engraver and his masterpieces.
Gerbier’s praise seems to be the
only account of Goudt’s fame
printed within the latters
lifetime. It allows us to glance at
the high esteem the „plaetsnijder
tot Utrecht“ was held in by his
contemporaries.
The central part of my paper
focuses on Goudt’s engraving after
Elsheimer’s so-called Small
Tobias. This print, made in
Rome in 1608, is the most famous by
Goudt next to his Flight into
Egypt.
I will examine the genesis of the
Small Tobias engraving
within the context of Elsheimer’s
painting and etching, Goudt’s own
pen drawing on parchment, as well
as a proof and the different states
of his engraving. The comparison of
these works show the artist in the
difficult process between invention
and reproduction. Furthermore an
unique impression of an unfinished –m
and unnoticed – engraving of the
Small Tobias sheds new
light on the means of reproductive
prints.
In 1609 the Small Tobias
print was mentioned in the
correspondence of Elsheimer’s
friend Johannes Faber. Goudt’s
engraving was even printed on
parchment and on silk. Some of
these collector’s items are
documented in inventories in the
17th-century. These circumstances
encourage some hypotheses on the
commission of this highly elaborate
engraving.
My paper presents the printmaker
Goudt „at work“ and reveals among
others the earliest source on his
fame. The results form part of a
larger research on life and art of
Hendrick Goudt.
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