Title:
Landscape with Farmhouse
Creator/Contributor:
Hendrick Goltzius, 1558-1617, Dutch
Date:
ca. 1595-1600
Identifier:
1988.9.41
Format:
Print
Chiaroscuro woodcut from one line block and two tone blocks
Notes:
Catalogue Raisonne: Bartsch 244; Hollstein 380 ii/ii; Strauss 411; Hirschmann 380; Bialler (1993) 51 ii/ii
Inscription: Recto, inscribed "HG" in block near c. of lower edge; Verso, Baumfeld's stamp at l.l.
Provenance: William Schab, New York; Rudolf L. Baumfeld, Los Angeles
Scope and Content:
Goltzius's primary importance for the history of landscape lies in a small group of drawings dated to the early years of the
seventeenth century, which are amongst the earliest depictions of the countryside around Haarlem. While Goltzius's woodcuts
were not as influential as his drawings, they are still indicative of the predilection, particularly among Haarlem artists,
for more realistic views of contemporary local landscapes rather than the fantastic Flemish vistas that had been in vogue
up to this time.
Landscape with Farmhouse is part of a series of four chiaroscuro woodcuts depicting various landscapes. While other woodcuts
in this series depict Arcadian or Italianate landscapes, this image is the most "Dutch" in composition and anticipates future
developments in the genre. Though the fluid, curvilinear strokes are reminiscent of prints and drawings by the sixteenth-century
Venetian artist Domenico Campagnola, the rusticity of the scene and the naturalism of individual motifs such as the excreting
dog are typically Dutch. The stork, for instance, appears often in Dutch prints and was considered a sign of good luck in
seventeenth-century Holland.
Subject:
Dutch; landscapes (representations); farmhouses; water wells; peasants