Artist: Hendrick Goltzius. German-born Dutch printmaker (1558–1617).
Title: Melpomene.
Signed in the plate: Inscribed at lower right, "HG Fecit."; in the lower margin, "Melpomene ostendit numeros qucis cena Thyeste, / Prognes olla quibus, quibus Oetheiq[_] Dolores / Et lachryme Electre, et meste lame~ta Eryphiles, / Describi Tragico possent instructa cothurno / F[ranco]E[stius]".
Dimensions: Image 10" x 6 1/2". Sheet 11 3/4 x 7 1/2". Mat 21 1/2" x 18".
Date: Circa 1600.
Materials and Techniques: Engraving on laid paper. Matted.
Provenance:
-Björklund collection. Stamp GB in an oval on verso. George Björklund. (1887-1968 after), print collector in Stockholm. Author of the catalogue of Rembrandt's etchings with Osbert Barnard.
-Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, Il. Gallery label on the back of the mat board. "Phyllis Kind, a combative, visionary art dealer..." (From the Obituary in The New York Times).
-Property from the Joshua B. Kind Trust. Joshua B. Kind was a Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Phillis and Joshua divorced in the 1970s.
Condition: Trimmed left margin. A detailed condition report is available on demand.
Part of: From a series of nine (The Nine Muses).
Museums and Libraries: The British Museum. Registration number D,5.259.
Notes: Probably, later impression of a beautiful allegorical engraving, without #3 in the l.m. of the plate.
Franco Estius - Humanist poet; Neo-Latinist. Wrote Latin verses for many prints by Hendrick Goltzius. His name seems not to appear on prints after 1594, so this is his assumed date of death. (The British Museum).