Hendrick Goltzius, holding his printing plate for the engraving executed in 1596, “St Jerome” (after Jacopo Negretti). Note that the date inscribed on the plate (below the title at lower right), “1617" is the year of Goltzius’ death.
Our impression comes with the distinguished provenance based on the stamp on the back of the sheet. According to Lugt description: “First brand introduced under Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, 1806-1810. As it is unlikely that this mark, where the French eagle can be seen, was still used after the restoration of the house of Orange, the sheets on which it appears undoubtedly belong to the oldest nucleus of the Cabinet. It must designate, in particular, the prints of the rich van Leyden collection, acquired in 1808. Introduced by decree of January 15, 1808” (http://www.marquesdecollections.fr/detail.cfm/marque/5660/total/1).
Leigh Hunt writes: “"Edelinck was one of the greatest masters of pure engraving. He never used etching or dry-point on his plates, and of the four hundred that he produced there is not one that is poor or second-rate. Edelinck's work was epoch making: he revolutionized engraving, abandoning lines that crossed to form squares for lozenge forms. Further, he massed his lines and changed their direction, thus avoiding the monotony that had marked all previous work in France. Edelinck had all the merits of his predecessors and, besides, rendered texture, colour, and light and shade as they never before had been rendered. His strokes were clear and bold, and the results beautifully finished, harmonious and silvery. His proofs were the first to possess the quality called technically by engravers 'colour'." *
Hunt, L. (1909). Edelinck. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved August 5, 2021 from New Advent:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05281a.htm
