Biography for Hendrik Goltzius

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Employment

Hendrick or Heinrich Goltzius arrived in Haarlem, Holland in 1571. In 1573 he married a rich widow who helped him set up a workshop. Goltzius could only use one hand, his right hand being damaged in a fire; this did not prevent him from becoming a draftsman, painter, engraver, and publisher. He was influenced by the work of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533). He studied Roman antiquities and the leading Renaissance artists of the time, and is often credited with bring the classical Renaissance style to Northern Europe. Goltzius’s work included some of the earliest Dutch landscapes, but he is most well known for his printmaking and engraving. He visited Germany and Italy in 1590-91, the only time he left Haarlem. In 1600 with failing eyesight, he returned to painting, believing like his contemporaries, that painting was a superior art to printmaking.

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