Featured In New Exhibition—

Goltzius Painting Purchased By Wadsworth Atheneum

HARTFORD — A rare painting by the draughtsman, printmaker and painter Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) has been acquired by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

Only about fifty paintings by Goltzius exist and of these nearly ten are in the United States.

The museum’s new acquisition, “Adam,” is an oil on panel measuring 20½ by 15 inches.

The bust-length depiction of Adam had been unrecorded until its discovery at an auction in Quimper, France, in May 2003. It was purchased there by the New York dealer Jack Kilgore, from whom the atheneum acquired it.

In the painting, 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. That biographical theme, in tandem with the religious motif of redemption, makes Adam particularly poignant. 

According to Eric Zafran, curator of European painting and sculpture, “This painting by Goltzius is an outstanding example of the early Baroque style, and joins a notable collection of powerful male figures by Netherlandish artists, including Michael Sweerts and Frans Hals.”

Painted in oil on panel with the artist’s monogram at the upper right, “Adam” is dated circa 1611.

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 reverse, which may indicate a previous owner yet to be determined.

Goltzius’s “Adam” will be featured in Wadsworth Atheneum’s upcoming exhibition “Intimate Visions: Small-Scale European Paintings of the 15th to 19th Centuries,” which opens on January 15.

“Intimate Visions:

Small-Scale Paintings”

The popular adage “bigger is better” is put to the test by “Intimate Visions: Small-Scale European Paintings of the 15th to 19th Centuries,” which will be on view at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art from January 15 until September 11.

The exhibition showcases some 70 paintings in the museum’s permanent collection that have rarely been shown in the museum’s grand galleries due to their petite size. Now a suite of intimate rooms adjacent to Avery Court has been reserved for the display of more than seventy of these rarely seen gems.

Grouped chronologically, the works span a variety of subject matter. Religious themes pervade the earliest paintings of the Italian and Northern schools, including the rare, late 15th Century French “Annunciation” and “Pietà” as well as “Annunciation” by Caracciolo, and the recently restored Francesco Francia “Madonna and Child with St Francis.”

Within the small-scale format, the most popular subject throughout Europe was the still life, with its detailed depictions of bugs, birds, flowers and fruit. Chief among the splendid examples on view is “Still Life with Hourglass” by the 17th Century Dutch master Gerrit Dou.

Genre scenes were popular in the 18th Century, and as the form evolved, it encompassed increasingly modern settings and subject matter.

Louis Leopold Boilly’s “The Mockery” as well as a pair of paintings by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta – a charming boy and girl – are filled with sexual innuendo.

Humor and careful observation of human behavior are evident in Jehan-Georges Vibert’s “The Schism” and in Jean Beraud’s treatment of a typical urban view in “Paris Street Scene.”

Landscapes dominate the 19th Century paintings. The exhibition offers fine examples by Camille Corot and other Barbizon masters including Henri Julien Rousseau, Diaz de la Pena, and Charles Francois Daubigny.

“Intimate Visions” concludes with Hippolyte Petitjean’s pointillist composition “Village.”

“Intimate Visions: Small-Scale European Paintings of the 15th to 19th Centuries” has been assembled by Eric M. Zafran, curator of European painting and sculpture, and Rena Hoisington, assistant curator of European painting and sculpture.

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 am to 5 pm; Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm; and on the first Thursday of every month until 8 pm.

Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors ages 62 and over, $5 for students ages 13 through college (with student ID and free for children ages 12 and under. At 5 pm on the first Thursday of each month, admission is $5 for ages 13 and up.

(The exception is during “Fine Art ad Flowers,” a museum fundraiser on May 5-8, when admission will be $13 for adults, $11 for senior, $8 for students, $3 for children ages 2 through 12, and $3 for museum and corporate members).

For information about parking and the ART shuttle, as well as exhibitions and programs, visit www.WadsworthAtheneum.org or call 860-278-2670; TDD is 860-278-0294. The Wadsworth is at 600 Main Street in Hartford.