Not currently on view
In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of August 2026
FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG
The exaggerated and unnatural musculature of this figure may suggest that the Netherlandish artist Hendrick Goltzius had never studied a real human body. Indeed, he pulled from a mixture of sources including classical sculpture, Italian art, and his imagination. Goltzius ushered in Mannerism in Northern Europe, a style that featured exaggerated forms and metaphorical and allegorical subject matter. Known for his skill with an engraving burin, he transformed the technique, creating engraved lines that taper and swell to emphasize volume and form to extreme effect.
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Hendrick Goltzius — The Great Hercules
Hendrick Goltzius — Mucius Scaevola, from "The Roman Heroes"
Hendrick Goltzius — Horatius Cocles, from "The Roman Heroes"
Hendrick Goltzius — Calphurnius, from "The Roman Heroes"
Melchior Lorck (Danish, 1526/27–after 1588) — Crucified Man
Enea Vico|Bartolomeo Ammanati (Ammannati)|Antonio Lafreri|Pi
Antonio Lafreri|Enea Vico|Bartolomeo Ammanati (Ammannati)|An
Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia) — Saint John the Baptist
Hendrick Goltzius — Marcus Valerius, from "The Roman Heroes"
Hendrick Goltzius — The Emperor Commodus as Hercules
Battista Franco — John the Baptist Preaching in the Wilderne
Hendrick Goltzius — Publius Horatius
