Code: 10188
Dimensions:
HENDRICK GOUDT The Hague 1583 – 1648 Utrecht
Tobias with the Angel, Dragging the Fish (The Large Tobias).
Engraving, after Adam Elsheimer; c. 1613-14. Bartsch 2, Hollstein 2, only state. A very fine impression in excellent, fresh condition. Watermark: Strasbourg Bend and Lily. Provenance: Pierre-François Basan (1723-1797), Lugt 221, dated 17_7.
Goudt was the companion, factotum, and minder of the brilliant but notoriously sloppy and disorganized Elsheimer who as part of the Bentfleughels, one of the Netherlandish artists who travelled to Italy, was the source of artistic inspiration. Goudt was also a gifted printmaker who with astonishing brilliance translated Elsheimer’s paintings into a series of remarkable engravings depicting the crepuscular light of Elsheimer’s small panels with a poetic intimacy and delicacy that marked a landmark moment in presentation of such images, and which led to the Northern Baroque fascination with the mysterious effects of twilight.
Needless to say these engravings were enormously popular, and the plates were printed in rather large numbers, with the unfortunate effect of soon diminishing the delicacy of the impressions to rather coarse approximations of Goudt’s brilliant modulation of light.
Sheet: 260 x 272 mm
