Hendrick Goltzius and the Sons of Laocoön

• In Event: Una linea sola e non stentata: Papers in Memory of David Rosand II

Abstract

In 1591 acclaimed Dutch draftsman and printmaker Hendrick Goltzius made his long-awaited pilgrimage to Rome. While there, he realized large-format drawings after ancient statuary, which can be characterized as documentary in nature. More than a decade later, Goltzius engaged some of these sources anew as a painter, finding sparks for figural types he wanted to incorporate into his painted compositions. This paper departs from one compelling example, Goltzius’s red chalk study of the heads of the sons of Laocoön, recently acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago. Unlike his earlier drawings after the Laocoön group, this drawing treats only motifs of the sculpture in fragmentary form. An analysis of this sheet will show how Goltzius returned to ancient sources many years after his first direct encounter with them, drawing with different media and conceiving of his subjects in a new format and style reflective of his new purpose.

Author

• Victoria Sancho Lobis, Art Institute of Chicago