La fortune de Hendrick Goltzius dans la dynastie des graveurs Matham, Jacob, le père, et ses deux fils aînés: assimilation du modèle et adaptation au goût dans la première moitié du xviie siècle

Abstract

The Dutch draughtsman, engraver and print publisher Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) gave an impetus to the art of engraving in the Netherlands. His own professional activities and those of his ‘heirs’, the Matham, ensured the survival of his artistic work for decades, well into the 17th century. When Goltzius founded his own publishing house in Haarlem in 1585, he began to built a stock of copperplates. This stock consisted of plates after his own designs and the designs of Mannerist artists such as Bartholomeus Spranger. From the late 1580 Goltzius trained his stepson Jacob Matham as an engraver and followed his engraving with a lot of attention. Jacob Matham imitated the drawing style of the models he had to copy with the burin. When Goltzius stayed in Italy for eight months (1592) his stepson continued to work independently in the Haarlem studio of Goltzius. At his return Goltzius changed the output of his enterprise. Many prints after Italian models and new designs of Goltzius in a more sober and classic style were released. When Hendrick Goltzius decided to concentrate on painting at the end of the 1590s, Jacob Matham took charge of the print workshop. He published prints after late drawings by the master as well as reproduction prints after Goltzius’ paintings. Gradually Matham developed his own — more sweet — style. Jacobs son Adriaen Matham continued to engrave inventions by Goltzius and his brother Theodore kept publishing prints after Goltzius (even with an imperial privilege). In this way, the artistic (graphic) language of the Haarlem master was guaranteed until decades after his dead.