Virtuos imitiert

de Christien Melzer

"Diese Publikation erscheint anlässlich der Ausstellung ... Kunsthalle Bremen, Kupferstichkabinett, 3. Dezember 2014 bis 1. Februar 2015"--Page 88. The art of the virtuoso engraver Hendrick Goltzius oscillates between imitation and emulation. Goltzius was capable of reproducing the artistic methods and styles of such famous predecessors as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas van Leyden, and Cornelis Cort, and even of composing new engravings in their respective manner, thereby putting the expertise of the public to the test. The point of departure for the presentation will be the six so-called master engravings from the 1590s, which were created after Goltzius' journey to Italy. As Karel van Mander reports, Golzius used smoke to blacken the paper of the prints in order to sell them for horrendous prices to collectors and connoisseurs as engravings by the Old Masters. Moreover, in an era in which art emancipated itself from craftsmanship, Golzius explored the power of artistic imagination as such, for example by deliberately leaving the Adoration of the Shepherds in a state of incompletion. He further pursued fascinating art-historical approaches such as an investigation of the cognitive value of vision.