Design with Female Figure in Flowing Drapery n.d.

Editor: Hendrick Goltzius' "Design with Female Figure in Flowing Drapery" is a striking piece, created with ink and chalk, currently housed here at the Art Institute of Chicago. What jumps out at me is how the figure seems almost captured in mid-motion, cascading down the page, around the diamond. What do you see in this work? Curator: It's interesting you pick up on that movement, that sense of controlled drama! For me, Goltzius captures something essential about the Mannerist style, a kind of elegant artifice. Do you notice how the drapery isn't just fabric? Editor: It feels almost…sculptural? Curator: Precisely! Goltzius delights in the abstract potential of form, that love of pure line. And consider the female figure. Her idealized, almost exaggerated form, typical of the period. Does this figure remind you of anything? Editor: She kind of reminds me of sculptures, or how the Old Masters seemed to capture women… almost mythical. Is that intentional? Curator: I think you’re spot-on! And look closer - what’s missing? That prominent diamond shape? Editor: You're right! It seems...empty. Like something should be there, but it's not. Curator: I wonder if the design may have been created as preparatory piece for something, the Diamond marking space that would receive additional information. It suggests the power of suggestion. Perhaps more interesting than complete resolution, in a sense? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. The missing element, or negative space, leaves the piece more to our interpretation, more fluid. Curator: Yes, leaving this striking impression that reminds us how creative, thought provoking "flaws" in art really are! It makes me look more closely to it.