Bildnis Jacob Mathams

This drawing of a dark-haired young man with

the beginnings of a moustache was part of an

array of portraits that can be traced back to the

Muilman sale in 1773. Dionis Muilman’s (1702–1772)

collection of portrait drawings by Hendrick Goltzius

(1558–1617), including the Self-Portrait [66], may

even originate with the estate of the artist himself.1

In the sale catalogue, the Albertina’s drawing

can be identified with number 162 in Album C,

describing a 1592-dated portrait of Goltzius’s twenty-

one-year-old stepson, Jacob Matham (1571–1631).

Its size of 14¼ by 11 duim equates to approximately

36.6 by 28.3 cm,2 a format strikingly close to that

of the present sheet. Matham became the behuwd

zoon (stepson) of Goltzius, as he is referenced in the

Muilman catalogue, when his mother, Margaretha

Jansdr., widow of Adriaen Matham, married the

twenty-one-year-old Goltzius in 1579.3 Soon after,

Matham became his stepfather’s pupil. He started

signing prints after Goltzius in 1589,4 and he probably

helped maintain the studio amid the latter’s

absence in 1590–91.5

Stylistically, the present portrait belongs to

a group of impressive life-size works in colored

chalks,6 anticipating Goltzius’s turn toward

painting in 1600.7 Early examples made around

15888 betray the influence of German masters such

as Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Lucas Cranach the

Elder (1472–1553), and Hans Holbein the Elder

(1460–1524).9 During his journey to Italy, however,

he absorbed the influence of Italian colleagues

including Federico Zuccaro (1539–1609), with whom

he stayed when visiting Rome in 1591.10

Goltzius drew the portrait of twenty-one-year-old

Matham back in Haarlem, in 1592. This is evident

by the inscription originally meant to frame the

sitter’s head. Goltzius later moved it to the right,

but without fully eliminating the earlier version.

Such pentimenti provide welcome insights into

the artist’s process, be it only to record the altered

placement of an inscription. With its date, the

present portrait pictures a young artist on the verge

of success. In 1592, Matham successfully engraved

the famous Tabula Cebetis after his stepfather’s

design, which at 66.5 by 42.5 cm is the largest print

to ever leave Goltzius’s studio.11 No wonder his is

the attitude of a self-confident, promising young

man. We can only imagine his stepfather’s pride

when putting Matham’s likeness to paper, recording

the latter’s entrance into the Haarlem art world.12

This and his Self-Portrait bespeak the versatility of

Goltzius himself, “a rare Proteus in art,”13 who, as

seen in the present exhibition, mastered a variety

of styles, from painterly portraits to pen drawings

such as Standing Officer Holding a Boar’s Spear [54].

 

1. Reznicek 1961, 1:203.

2. An Amsterdamse duim is roughly 2.57 cm.

3. Widerkehr (NHD) 2007, xxv.

4. Widerkehr (NHD) 2007, xxvii.

5. Filedt Kok 1991–92, 183–84; Widerkehr (NHD) 2007, xxviii.

6. Reznicek 1961, 1:96.

7. Cf. Reznicek 1960, 33; Nichols L. 2013, 22–23.

8. See, for instance, Hendrick Goltzius, Portrait of Gillis

van Breen, 1588, colored chalks on paper, 37.6 x 29.2 cm,

Städelmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, 807; Reznicek 1961, 1:355,

no. 264.

9. Cf. Royalton-Kisch in Luijten and Van Suchtelen 1993, 395.

10. Van Mander 1994–99, 1:223r, 5:195; Reznicek 1961, 1:203. More

recently, this shift has also been associated with the potential

influence of French masters such as Jean Clouet (c. 1485–1540/41)

and François Clouet (c. 1516–1572); cf. Schapelhouman in

Leeflang H. and Luijten 2003, 149.

11. Jacob Matham after Hendrick Goltzius, Tabula Cebetis, 1592,

engraving, Widerkehr (NHD) 2007, 107–12, no. 194.

12. Cf. Widerkehr 1991–92, 226.

13. Cf. Van Mander 1994–99, 1:285r, 5:207; see also Limouze

1991–92, 439; Krystof 1997, 148.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 67

Goltzius’ Virtuosität als Zeichner und Kupferstecher manifestiert sich ganz besonders im Bereich der Porträtkunst. Seine frühesten, in Feder und Metallstift ausgeführten Bildnisse der 1570er- und 1580er-Jahre weisen miniaturähnliche Formate auf. Eine überraschende Wende zeigen die monumentalen, in farbigen Kreiden ausgeführten Künstlerporträts, die Goltzius 1590/91 in Italien schuf. Charakteristisch für diese realistisch gestalteten Bildnisse sind die stark kontrastierenden Lichteffekte.

Die sorgfältig durchgeführten Bildniszeichnungen stammen aus der Zeit nach Goltzius’ Rückkehr in die Niederlande und schließen deutlich an seinen in Italien entwickelten Porträtstil an. In dieser Phase ist die Dramatik des Helldunkels allerdings zurückgetreten; das Licht spielt hier vor allem eine weich modellierende Rolle. Die beiden Albertina-Bildnisse (Inv. 8070, Inv. 17638) sind treffende Beispiele für den souveränen Umgang des Künstlers mit verschiedenartigen Materialien, wobei die schwarze und die farbigen Kreiden sich subtil mit dem sorgfältig geführten Pinsel verbinden. Mit dem 1592 datierten Porträt eines 21-jährigen jungen Mannes gab Goltzius mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit seinen Stiefsohn und Schüler Jacob Matham (1571–1631) wieder. Er widmete sich besonders dem Glanz der Haar- und Hautpartien sowie den subtilen Oberflächenwirkungen der Stoffe. Mit großer Lebendigkeit traf er das Wesen des selbstbewussten jungen Mannes.

Bosch, Bruegel, Rubens, Rembrandt. Meisterwerke der Albertina, hg. von K. A. Schröder und C. Metzger, Albertina, Wien, Ostfildern 2013, Abb. 88, S. 186.