manfred sellink philips galle - VU-DARE Home

97. "Gratus ager concepts refert ubi semina
multo/ Foenore, messores et iuvat agricoiam/
Nobilitatq[ue] solum, pretio nee vincitur ullo/ Nec domi
ni alterius iura movenda timet" ("When the grateful held
returns the received seed with high interest, it pleases the
reapers and the farmer. It [the seed] ennobles the soil, goes
beyond every price, and does not fear to change owner­
ship.")
98. Cp. TIB. 56, pp. 292-295, nos. 75:1-4 (the
numbers 1 and 2 of the series have been placed in the
wrong order).The iconography of die series and its rela­
tion to other series of prints with the same subject has
been studied in detail inVeldman 1987b. As IljaVeidman
pointed out the highly unusual iconography was already
misunderstood in the seventeenth century. In a later edi­
tion published by Galle s grandson Johannes the sequence
of the series was completely changed, implying that the
biblical source of the book of Esdras (also see below) was
no longer reco^mized; compare Yeldman 1987b, p. 227.
99. IljaVeidman first substantiated this attribution
by comparing the series to drawings by Groenning in the
Rijksprentenkabinet and the Leiden prmtroom;Veidrnan
1987b, p. 225.
100. On Ghyselinck see Heesakkers 1976, passim.
As a young man Ghyselinck was a freelance proofreader
working for Plantin between 1564 and 1566;Voet 1969-
72, vol. 2, p. 176. After his studies in France the Flemish
humanist and physician returned to Antwerp and occa­
sionally acted as an editor of publications of the Offkina
Pianiiniana; Cockx-Indestege 1989, p. 133, no. 65. Galle
must have been acquainted with Ghyselinck through
Plantin.The Antwerp humanist only rarely seems to have
written verses for prints; compare, for instance, two
engravings by Anthonie Wierix dated 1586: Mauquoy-
Hcndrickx 1978-83, vol. 2, pp. 195-196, nos. 1070 and
1073.
101. Compare Veldman 1987b, p. 225. As
Groenning s compositions are, both in style and iconog­
raphy clearly indebted to print designs by Maartcn van
Heemskerck it is not strange to find that the Four powers
have long been attributed to diis Haarlem painter;
seeKernch 1829, p. 89 and Hollstein, vol. 8, p. 248, nos.
588-591.
102. "An Bromio quidquam iucundius? hie tamen
Notes Chapter 4
196
omnes/ Ecce tibi victos victor inermis agit./ Hie genus,
formam, sexum et simul omnia mutat:/ Ille homini
mentem surripit ille hominem." ("Is there anything, any
thing at all, more pleasing than Bromius? For see, although
unarmed he carries away all the vanquished with him as
victor. He changes birth, appearance, sex - everything. He
robs men of their spirit and deprives them of their human­
ity 5
'). The English translation is quoted from Veldman
1987b, p. 225.
103. "AtVerum, etVeri virtus de nomine dicta,/ E
Patris aetherei prodita Diva sinu,/ Lux orbi irradians,nullo
violabilis aevo,/ Omnia sola regit: omnia sola potest."
("But the Veritable and the virtue, called by the name of
Truth, the goddess sprung from the lap of the Heavenly
Father, she alone rules over all, the radiant light of the
world, immune to time: she alone is powerful"). The
(slightly corrected) English translation is quoted from
Veldman 1987b, p. 225.
104. On Goltzius, see Hirschmann 1919,Reznicek
1961 and the Nederlands Kunsthistonsch Jaarboek of 1991-
92 (vols, 42-42), which is entirely devoted to this artist.
Particularly important for the biography of Goltzius are
Miedema 1991-92 and Nichols 1991-92; to Hessel
Miedema s analysis of Kare! van Mander's biography of
Goltzius should be added: Van fviander 1994, vol. 1
pp. 384-407, which gives a full English translation ofVan
Mander s text. As mentioned by the editors in the intro­
duction to the above Nederlands Kunsthistonsch Jaarboek
(p. 9) an assessment of Goltzius's earliest period as a print-
maker - that is to say up to 1582 - is still a desideratum.
Important in this respect are: Hirschmann 1919, pp. 47-
57, De la Fontaine Verwey 1969 and Veldman 1990,
pp. 23-26 - both on the relation between Goltzius and
Coornhert - and Sellink 1991-92, on certain aspects of
the Goltzius s collaboration with Galle. An excellent sur­
vey of Goltzius as an engraver and publisher after 1582 is
given by Filedt Kok 1991-92. A concise, but very to the
point overview of Goltzius s complete graphic oeuvre,
placed against the background of print publishing in the
Netherlands at the end of the sixteenth century, is found
in Orenstein 1993-94, pp. 177-183. A general survey of
Goltzius as a printmaker, with next to none attention to
his Antwerp iconography, is given in Silver 1993b.
105. Cp. Orenstein 1993-94, pp. 175-177.The only
major engraver and publisher active in the northern part
of the Netherlands at the time was Herman Jansz. Muller.