Apollo

Hendrick Goltzius was at the height of his fame as a printmaker and publisher when he engraved this dramatic oval Apollo in 1588. His Dutch Mannerist style imbues the composition with a sinuous energy; as the sun god strides forward, his hair aflame, he nearly intrudes into the viewer’s space. The figure’s exaggerated anatomy and pose demonstrates Goltzius’s ongoing interests in mythology and antique sculpture. The Apollo fittingly pairs with Goltzius’s 1592 Apollo Belvedere. Goltzius approached that subsequent engraving in a more restrained, classicizing style after he saw the renowned antique sculpture during a trip to Italy in 1590.