THE PASSION

1596. Set of twelve engravings on laid paper. Second state (of two). Signed in the plate with monogram, date and number. B.33 & 36-38 with the coat of arms with tower watermark. A very good set. Nice, even impressions. Margins trimmed outside the platemark. B.27-32 laid onto card. Some with occasional foxing, more so to B. 32-33 & 35-37. Old fold and pinprick hole to B.28. Repaired margins to B.35. Two splash marks to B.38. B.27 (The Last Supper) is a seventeenth-century copy in mirror image by Lucas Vorsterman. An attractive set overall. Here, the German-born Dutch engraver Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617), in one of his most popular productions, provides an exquisite, masterful rendition of the Passion of Christ drawing on the figure types and engraving techniques of Lucas van Leyden, as well as Albrecht Dürer's own depiction of the subject. A beautiful work by one of the leading figures of Northern Mannerism. Major holdings of his engravings include the Rijksmuseum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the British Museum. (Bartsch 27-38; Hollstein 21-32; Strauss 356, 342, 355, 343, 332, 339-41, 353-4, 334, 333).