Oil Paint
Oil paint is a slow-drying art medium made with pigment and a drying-oil binder that allows extended working time, smooth blending, and layered application.
Painter
Hendrick Goltzius
Hendrick Goltzius was a Dutch printmaker and painter who helped establish Haarlem Mannerism before turning to more classical, naturalistic oil painting around 1600.
Hendrick Goltzius quick facts
Goltzius introduced Spranger's Northern Mannerist figure style in Haarlem through highly influential prints. The Rijksmuseum notes that he moved toward classicism after visiting Italy in 1590–91; his important oil paintings were created later, after about 1600.
| Born | 1558 · Bracht, Duchy of Jülich (now Germany) |
|---|---|
| Died | 1617 · Haarlem, Dutch Republic (now Netherlands) |
| Nationality | Dutch (German-born) |
| Movements | Northern Mannerism (early graphic art); later Dutch classicist and Baroque-era painting |
| Paint types | Oil Paint |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas |
| Painting methods | Virtuoso burin engraving and figure drawings in his early career; around 1600, developed monumental oil-on-canvas painting with more classical proportions and naturalistic flesh tones |
| Common subjects | Adam and Eve, classical mythology, Biblical narratives, allegorical virtues, muscular human figures, and landscapes |
| Notable works | The Fall of Man · Lot and His Daughters · Vertumnus and Pomona · The Great Hercules (engraving) |
Sources: National Gallery of Art: Goltzius biography and move into painting, National Gallery of Art: The Fall of Man, oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum: Lot and His Daughters, oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum: Vertumnus and Pomona, oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum: From Mannerism to classicism.
Paint types used
The National Gallery of Art identifies The Fall of Man (1616) as oil on canvas, while the Rijksmuseum documents Lot and His Daughters and Vertumnus and Pomona in the same medium. His engravings, chalk drawings, and pen-painting are distinct graphic techniques; they should not be labeled oil paintings.
Surface types used
These three museum-documented paintings use canvas, whereas Goltzius's celebrated engravings were made on paper. Paper appears in his print and drawing practice, but is not added to the painted-surface tiles solely on that evidence.
Canvas
Canvas is a woven fabric support, commonly cotton or linen, used for painting and sold either raw or prepared with a compatible ground layer.
Painters similar to Hendrick Goltzius
Goltzius collaborated in Haarlem with Cornelis van Haarlem and helped spread the sinuous Prague Mannerist style of Spranger through his engravings.
Cornelis van Haarlem
Cornelis van Haarlem was a Dutch Mannerist painter known for forceful muscular figures, crowded mythological scenes, and expressive biblical compositions.
Bartholomeus Spranger
Bartholomeus Spranger was a Flemish-born Northern Mannerist painter who brought elegantly twisting figures, mythological allegories, and dramatic colors to Rudolf II's Prague court.