Proposal. School Of The Netherlands Late 16th Century

School of Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617) Oil on oak panel (one board) In its period frame in blackened wood with reversed profile and guilloche moldings (beautiful model). Total dimension: 55 x 64 cm. The panel: 24 x 33 cm. This very charming little painting was painted around 1600 in the province of Haarlem in the Netherlands, its subject is a proverb borrowed from the vocabulary of the time, “youth is better than gold”! the painter depicts three protagonists, an old money changer or banker, a young knight with his hand on the sword and a young woman who has just made her choice, abandoning the rich old man for the handsome young man! We know that at that time these little anecdotal subjects were very appreciated by the customers of the painting workshops. Hendrik Goltzius made it a specialty, among other things. Dutch painter and engraver (Mühlbracht, near Venlo, 1558 – Haarlem 1617). First son of Jan II Goltzius and brother of Jacob II, Hendrick Goltzius learned his trade with the master engraver Coornhert (1575), then with the publisher Philipp Galle. In 1577 he moved to Haarlem. Until his departure for Italy, that is to say in 1590, his engravings and drawings, first marked by Van Heemskerck, were from 1583, and thanks to Van Mander, influenced by the frenzied mannerism of Spranger, and of which he even engraved certain compositions. From this period, let us cite the plates of Marcus Curtius (1586), Mars and Minerva, Minerva and Mercury (1588) and the very beautiful series of Prophets and Sibyls. These engravings are typically mannerist in their sought-after composition, their agitation and the proportions of the figures, elongated with small heads. In 1587-88, he executed a series of 7 engravings retracing the history of Creation and pen drawings preparing the illustration of Ovid's Metamorphoses, a work printed in 1590 (museums of Amiens, Besançon, Hamburg ) ; it is one of the last examples of Spranger's influence on Goltzius. In 1590, Goltzius left for Italy with Jan Mathys and passed through Munich; he visited Bologna, Venice, Florence, where he met John of Bologna, whose portrait he painted, and finally, he arrived in Rome, where he drew a lot, also copied the most famous antiques as well as Michelangelo's Moses; he admires the frescoes of Raphael at the Farnesina; then he leaves for Naples and returns to Rome, where he works for the Jesuits. At the end of 1591, the artist returned to Haarlem. Very good state of conservation. Sold with certificate