Envy

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

In this print, which comes from a series of fourteen engravings, Envy is shown as an old hag eating a heart, a visual metaphor for the expression "eating your heart out" with resentment. Jacob Matham was Goltzius's stepson and pupil and entered his Haarlem workshop in 1581. A highly prolific engraver, Matham produced prints after artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Abraham Bloemaert (1564–1651), and especially Goltzius. When Goltzius ceased his activities as a printmaker around 1600, Matham took over the workshop.

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