304 - Adam Elsheimer, Hendrick Goudt - Ceres Seeking Her Daughter

Adam Elsheimer, Hendrick Goudt - Ceres Seeking Her Daughter Description: Hendrick Goudt (1583–1648) after Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610) – Ceres Seeking Her Daughter (The Mocking of Ceres), 1610. One of Goudt's famous nocturnal engravings after Adam Elsheimer, executed during his stay in Rome. The scene, taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, shows Ceres searching for her abducted daughter Proserpina. Exhausted and thirsty, she is offered a drink by an old woman; as she drinks eagerly, the young Stellio mocks her, whereupon the goddess transforms him into a lizard. Goudt brilliantly translates Elsheimer's characteristic nocturnal effects into engraving, building the composition through exceptionally dense networks of lines and dramatic contrasts between deep shadow and illuminated passages. These highly sophisticated chiaroscuro engravings after Elsheimer rank among Goudt's most important works and anticipate the atmospheric use of light and darkness later developed by Rembrandt. Engraved and published in Rome in 1610 and dedicated to Cardinal Scipione Borghese, with Latin verses by Janus Rutgers in the lower margin. Etching and engraving on woven paper. References: Bartsch 5; Hollstein 5; Dutuit 6; Le Blanc 6; Wurzbach 5. Dimensions: 31,90 x 24,60 cm Condition: Good impression trimmed on the plate border, without visible watermark. verso clean. Overall in very good condition. Literature: Bartsch 5; Hollstein 5; Dutuit 6; Le Blanc 6; Wurzbach 5. Medium: Engraving Date: 1610