.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This impressive The Fall of Man by Goltzius, previously identified correctly only in the doctoral dissertation of Lawrence W. Nichols, is an important addition to the painted oeuvre of this critical Dutch artist.
Goltzius turned to the story of Adam and Eve, told in Genesis 3:1-7, on many occasions including his consequential engraving of 1585 after Spranger (Strauss 217), thereafter in no less than four drawings (E.K.J. Reznicek, Die Zeichnungen von Hendtick Goltzius, 1961, nos. K9, 10, 11 and 50), and the full-length painting of 1608 in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, which is paired with a Baptism of Christ (see L. Nichols in Kunstschrift Openbaas Kunstbezit, 1985, no. 5, pp. 158-60, illustrated). Documentary evidence suggests at least one additional painting by Goltzius of the subject from the period 1600-9. The present picture, his last on the theme, likely belonged to Receiver General Boudewijn de Man whose collection, which included two other paintings by Goltzius in addition to works by Rubens and Rembrandt when it was sold in 1644, was the most distinguished in Delft in the period 1610-80. It may also be one and the same picture noted in an Amsterdam collection of 1671, and quite likely can be found in a Paris auction of 1774 (see under Provenance above).
A vital figure from the mid-1580's in the development of Dutch Mannerism, Goltzius turned to painting only in the year 1600. Whereas his early efforts with the brush such as his fine copper of 1600, Christ on the Cross with Saint Mary Magdalen, the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, sold at Christie's, London, April 15, 1992, lot 18, now in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, and his Danaë of 1603, today in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, reflect strong stylistic affinities with his endeavors of the 1580's and 1590's, Goltzius's paintings from the end of his life are altogether different in character. The explanation for this is to be found in the art of Rubens, who met Goltzius in Haarlem in June 1612. As first pointed out by Stechow in Cornelis van Haarlem en de hollandsche laatmaniëristische schilderkunst, in Elseviers's Geillustreerd Maandschrift, XLV, no. 90, 1935, pp. 87-90, many of Goltzius's paintings from 1613 to the end of his life reflect the Antwerp master's biblical, mythological, and allegorical works from exactly these years, in particular Rubens's manner of arranging compositions, his conception of rendering the nude, as well as his approach to the handling of color. Goltzius found in Rubens a kindred spirit, one similarly interested in painting in a classicizing manner, deriving inspiration from antiquity as well as the masters of the Italian Renaissance. Examples of Goltzius's Rubensian mode include his Adam and Eve Lamenting the Death of Abel of 1613 (whereabouts unknown), Venus and Adonis of 1614 in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, and Lot and his Daughters of 1616 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. A work such as Rubens's Jupiter and Callisto of 1613 in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alter Meister, Kassel (see M. Jaffé, Rubens, 1989, pp. 184-5, no. 196, illustrated) is a potential compositional source for the present painting. The similarities of figural form in many of his works from 1613 to 1616 suggest Goltzius more than once called upon individual drawing studies, a case in point being the almost identical appearances of the daughter at right in Lot and his Daughters and Eve in the present painting. So too, drawings made in Rome continued to provide inspiration even to the last year of his life - Adam in the present work assumes the pose of an antique river god, his torso and legs matching rather closely those of The Tiber (Reznicek, op. cit., no. K 204).
In contrast to Goltzius's The Fall of 1608 in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, his painting of the subject from 1616 is horizontal in format and represents Adam and Eve as seated figures. Goltzius's emphasis on the carnal relationship of the first couple in comparison with his rendition of the subject from eight years earlier is also a noted contrast. Moreover, in the version under discussion and unlike that from 1608, the apple, prominently positioned between the heads of Adam and Eve, already has had a bite taken from it. The seducing serpent of Eden, here seen as in the painting in the Hermitage represented as a female-headed snake, has already induced Eve to sin, and she in turn is convincing Adam to follow what she has done. If Pride (Superbia) brought about the downfall of Eve, the sin of Lust (Luxuria), another of The Seven Deadly Sins, will be responsible for Adam's undoing. Goltzius would appear to stress the involvement of this second sin in the present work. The splendidly painted goats observing what is taking place are of significance in this regard. Already a symbol of sexuality to the pagan world, this understanding persisted through the centuries and had the same meaning for van Mander (Wtbeeldinge der figueren...fol. 129 recto). Given the general demeanor of this picture, it is fair to assume that the cat ensconced in the lower left corner is likewise intended to suggest carnality, and the same must hold true for the rabbit in the distant landscape.
One other seemingly incidental detail merits attention. A solitary elephant appears in the landscape, featured by its placement immediately to the right of Adam's hand on Eve's side. Had it a companion and were there other pairs of animals, as is the case with Goltzius's drawing of 1606 (Reznicek, op. cit., no. K 9), we would obviously be dealing merely with an illustration of Paradise before the Fall. But such is not the case in Goltzius's painting, and we therefore must be faced with yet another intentional carrier of meaning. Since Pliny the Elder the elephant had been thought to be a pious beast, moderate in food intake, and chaste when its mate is in gestation. Renaissance authors gave Christian interpretations to the pagan natural history fables, and so the giant animal became a symbol of piety, temperance, and chastity. In addition, the elephant was said to be fearful of snakes as Slatkes has noted (Rembrandt's Elephant, Simiolus, 11, 1980, pp. 7-13). Goltzius must have been aware of this tradition, perhaps via Dirck Coornhert's print after Maerten van Heemskerck (Hollstein, VIII, p. 237, no. 1), and he included the elephant, who turns his back to the serpent, and hence temptation, as a symbol of exactly those qualities lacking in Adam that will result in his succumbing to Eve's offering of the forbidden fruit. Rembrandt would impart the same meaning to his representation of The Fall in his etching of 1638 (Bartsch, p. 13, no. 28).
We are grateful to Dr. Lawrence W. Nichols for his assistance in cataloguing this painting, which he has studied in the original and which he will include in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Hendrick Goltzius.
Goltzius turned to the story of Adam and Eve, told in Genesis 3:1-7, on many occasions including his consequential engraving of 1585 after Spranger (Strauss 217), thereafter in no less than four drawings (E.K.J. Reznicek, Die Zeichnungen von Hendtick Goltzius, 1961, nos. K9, 10, 11 and 50), and the full-length painting of 1608 in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, which is paired with a Baptism of Christ (see L. Nichols in Kunstschrift Openbaas Kunstbezit, 1985, no. 5, pp. 158-60, illustrated). Documentary evidence suggests at least one additional painting by Goltzius of the subject from the period 1600-9. The present picture, his last on the theme, likely belonged to Receiver General Boudewijn de Man whose collection, which included two other paintings by Goltzius in addition to works by Rubens and Rembrandt when it was sold in 1644, was the most distinguished in Delft in the period 1610-80. It may also be one and the same picture noted in an Amsterdam collection of 1671, and quite likely can be found in a Paris auction of 1774 (see under Provenance above).
A vital figure from the mid-1580's in the development of Dutch Mannerism, Goltzius turned to painting only in the year 1600. Whereas his early efforts with the brush such as his fine copper of 1600, Christ on the Cross with Saint Mary Magdalen, the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, sold at Christie's, London, April 15, 1992, lot 18, now in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, and his Danaë of 1603, today in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, reflect strong stylistic affinities with his endeavors of the 1580's and 1590's, Goltzius's paintings from the end of his life are altogether different in character. The explanation for this is to be found in the art of Rubens, who met Goltzius in Haarlem in June 1612. As first pointed out by Stechow in Cornelis van Haarlem en de hollandsche laatmaniëristische schilderkunst, in Elseviers's Geillustreerd Maandschrift, XLV, no. 90, 1935, pp. 87-90, many of Goltzius's paintings from 1613 to the end of his life reflect the Antwerp master's biblical, mythological, and allegorical works from exactly these years, in particular Rubens's manner of arranging compositions, his conception of rendering the nude, as well as his approach to the handling of color. Goltzius found in Rubens a kindred spirit, one similarly interested in painting in a classicizing manner, deriving inspiration from antiquity as well as the masters of the Italian Renaissance. Examples of Goltzius's Rubensian mode include his Adam and Eve Lamenting the Death of Abel of 1613 (whereabouts unknown), Venus and Adonis of 1614 in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, and Lot and his Daughters of 1616 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. A work such as Rubens's Jupiter and Callisto of 1613 in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alter Meister, Kassel (see M. Jaffé, Rubens, 1989, pp. 184-5, no. 196, illustrated) is a potential compositional source for the present painting. The similarities of figural form in many of his works from 1613 to 1616 suggest Goltzius more than once called upon individual drawing studies, a case in point being the almost identical appearances of the daughter at right in Lot and his Daughters and Eve in the present painting. So too, drawings made in Rome continued to provide inspiration even to the last year of his life - Adam in the present work assumes the pose of an antique river god, his torso and legs matching rather closely those of The Tiber (Reznicek, op. cit., no. K 204).
In contrast to Goltzius's The Fall of 1608 in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, his painting of the subject from 1616 is horizontal in format and represents Adam and Eve as seated figures. Goltzius's emphasis on the carnal relationship of the first couple in comparison with his rendition of the subject from eight years earlier is also a noted contrast. Moreover, in the version under discussion and unlike that from 1608, the apple, prominently positioned between the heads of Adam and Eve, already has had a bite taken from it. The seducing serpent of Eden, here seen as in the painting in the Hermitage represented as a female-headed snake, has already induced Eve to sin, and she in turn is convincing Adam to follow what she has done. If Pride (Superbia) brought about the downfall of Eve, the sin of Lust (Luxuria), another of The Seven Deadly Sins, will be responsible for Adam's undoing. Goltzius would appear to stress the involvement of this second sin in the present work. The splendidly painted goats observing what is taking place are of significance in this regard. Already a symbol of sexuality to the pagan world, this understanding persisted through the centuries and had the same meaning for van Mander (Wtbeeldinge der figueren...fol. 129 recto). Given the general demeanor of this picture, it is fair to assume that the cat ensconced in the lower left corner is likewise intended to suggest carnality, and the same must hold true for the rabbit in the distant landscape.
One other seemingly incidental detail merits attention. A solitary elephant appears in the landscape, featured by its placement immediately to the right of Adam's hand on Eve's side. Had it a companion and were there other pairs of animals, as is the case with Goltzius's drawing of 1606 (Reznicek, op. cit., no. K 9), we would obviously be dealing merely with an illustration of Paradise before the Fall. But such is not the case in Goltzius's painting, and we therefore must be faced with yet another intentional carrier of meaning. Since Pliny the Elder the elephant had been thought to be a pious beast, moderate in food intake, and chaste when its mate is in gestation. Renaissance authors gave Christian interpretations to the pagan natural history fables, and so the giant animal became a symbol of piety, temperance, and chastity. In addition, the elephant was said to be fearful of snakes as Slatkes has noted (Rembrandt's Elephant, Simiolus, 11, 1980, pp. 7-13). Goltzius must have been aware of this tradition, perhaps via Dirck Coornhert's print after Maerten van Heemskerck (Hollstein, VIII, p. 237, no. 1), and he included the elephant, who turns his back to the serpent, and hence temptation, as a symbol of exactly those qualities lacking in Adam that will result in his succumbing to Eve's offering of the forbidden fruit. Rembrandt would impart the same meaning to his representation of The Fall in his etching of 1638 (Bartsch, p. 13, no. 28).
We are grateful to Dr. Lawrence W. Nichols for his assistance in cataloguing this painting, which he has studied in the original and which he will include in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Hendrick Goltzius.