New technology shows art, sculpture from fresh angles

For decades art historians have speculated that 16th-century printmaker Hendrick Goltzius used the bronzes of sculptor Willem Danielsz van Tetrode as models for his prints. Since little historical record remains, how do scholars find evidence of something that took place more than 400 years ago?

By applying the latest technology in digital photography, curators at the Clark Art Institute have found new and compelling visual evidence that Goltzius took legs, arms, heads, torsos and backs from different angles of Tetrode’s statuettes and translated them into two-dimensions in his own work.

These discoveries are highlighted in the exhibition “Goltzius and the Third Dimension,” at the Elvehjem Museum of Art through March 17, following a successful showing at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., the show’s organizer.

The exhibition explores the theory that Goltzius (1558-1617), the most esteemed Dutch printmaker of the late 1500s, used sculptural models by Tetrode (circa1525-1580) in designing some of his most famous engravings and woodcuts.

While the relationship between Goltzius and Tetrode has been debated by art historians for almost 30 years, this exhibition provides the first opportunity for the general public and scholarly community to see the prints and bronzes together, and judge the strength of the argument for themselves. The objects at the center of this controversy depict some of the most powerful images of the male nude in the history of Dutch art.

To examine the Tetrode sculptures and compare them with Goltzius’ prints, photographer Michael Agee (from the Clark) and Clark curator James A. Ganz placed each of the three sculptures in the exhibition on a rotating platform. With a digital camera and a computer, they were able to look at and manipulate the angle of viewing, instantly comparing the view on the screen to the print.

“The visual evidence was always there, but it was less obvious to the naked eye,” says Ganz. “As the images came up on the screen, and Mike [Agee] was able to get the angles just right, we began to see more and more instances that convinced us that Goltzius must have been looking at these Tetrode bronzes.”

The Elvehjem Museum of Art is open Tuesdays-Fridays 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Mondays and holidays. Admission: free.