About this artwork
Although Goltzius’s advances in line engraving found many followers, few pursued his equally original exploration of chiaroscuro woodcuts. This is one of a series of six oval-format chiaroscuro woodcuts of male and female goddesses. Persephone was abducted by Pluto to Hades and retrieved for six months each year by Demeter, her mother; with the establishment of this natural cycle, she is considered a symbol of fertility.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Hendrick Goltzius
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Title
- Proserpine, plate five from Demogorgon and the Deities
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Place
- Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1587–1591
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Medium
- Chiaroscuro woodcut in black and two shades of gray on paper
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Dimensions
- Oval: 34.5 × 26.1 cm (13 5/8 × 10 5/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Alfred E. Hamill
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Reference Number
- 1927.985
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/36030/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
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