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Allegory of Rome, title plate from The Roman Heroes

A print on beige paper in black ink of a gathering of partially clothed female figures around a monument on which a female figure in a headdress sits, her breasts exposed. A male figure with defined muscles sits in the foreground among animals with his back to the viewer.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A print on beige paper in black ink of a gathering of partially clothed female figures around a monument on which a female figure in a headdress sits, her breasts exposed. A male figure with defined muscles sits in the foreground among animals with his back to the viewer.

Date:

1586

Artist:

Hendrick Goltzius
Dutch, 1558–1617

About this artwork

This engraving is from a series of ten prints depicting heroes from ancient Roman history. In this allegorical title plate, the Haarlem engraver Hendrick Goltzius dedicated the series to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, framing him, a modern ruler, as the heir of ancient Roman valor. The bulging bodies and fanciful costumes in the imaginary portraits are characteristic of Goltzius’s style, which emulated and exaggerated the dynamic poses and muscular forms of ancient sculpture.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Hendrick Goltzius

Title

Allegory of Rome, title plate from The Roman Heroes

Place

Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1586

Medium

Engraving on ivory laid paper

Inscriptions

Lettered lower left: "HGoltzius invenit sculpsit et divulgavit Ao. 1586. Harlemi."; and below image: "Ecce gemelliparae sobolem ... ore, iubent. Franco Estius composuit"

Dimensions

Sheet (trimmed): 36.7 × 23.4 cm (14 1/2 × 9 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust Collection, purchased with funds provided by the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial, Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston, anonymous, and Suzanne Searle Dixon endowment funds

Reference Number

2023.882

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/264855/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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