The River God Peneus Surrounded by Other Divinities 1589

Hendrick Goltzius made this print, depicting The River God Peneus, sometime around the turn of the 17th century. It’s an engraving, meaning the image was incised into a metal plate, inked, and then pressed onto paper. Consider the labor involved. The engraver had to be a master of sharp tools, able to translate the artist's vision into a network of precise lines. Look closely, and you’ll see how the varying density and direction of these lines create a sense of light, shadow, and volume. The textures of skin, rock, and foliage are all evoked through this painstaking process. The print medium also allowed for the widespread distribution of images. In Goltzius’s time, prints were a crucial means of disseminating knowledge and artistic ideas. This particular image, with its classical subject matter, speaks to the cultural values of the period, when there was renewed interest in antiquity.