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Slug: Goltzius Painting Purchased By Wadsworth Atheneum

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HARTFORD, CONN. —  A rare painting by the draughtsman, printmaker, and painter Hendrick Goltzius, 1558–1617, was acquired by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

Only about 50 paintings by Goltzius exist and of these nearly ten are in the United States. This bust-length depiction of Adam had been unrecorded until its discovery at  n May 2003 auction in Quimper, France, purchased by the New York dealer Jack Kilgore, from whom the Atheneum acquired it.

Adam holds a sprig of hawthorn, the tree from which Christ’s crown of thorns was fashioned, therefore a symbol of the suffering and eventual salvation of humanity. The emphatic presence of Adam’s right hand was of personal significance to Goltzius, who became a virtuoso artist despite the fused tendons in his right hand, an injury sustained in a devastating fire in childhood. 

And what of Adam’s mate — the pendant painting of Eve, who holds an apple, symbolic of the fall of man, has been in the Museum of Fine Arts in Strasbourg, France, since 1936. Both paintings bear the mysterious mark “NN” on the back, which may indicate a previous owner yet to be determined.

Goltzius’s “Adam” will be featured in the Wadsworth Atheneum’s exhibition “Intimate Visions: Small-Scale European Paintings of the Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries.”

The Wadsworth Atheneum is at 600 Main Street. For information 860-278-2670 or WadsworthAtheneum.org.