GOLTZIUS, HENDRIK (1558-1617), Dutch painter and engraver, was born in 1558 at Miilebrecht, in the duchy of Jiilich. After studying painting on glass for some years under his father, he was taught the use of the burin by Dirk Volkertsz Coornlert, a Dutch engraver. He was employed by Philip Galle to engrave a set of prints of the history of Lucretia. Marriage with a rich widow at the age of 21 enabled him to set up in independent busi ness at Haarlem, where he spent the rest of his life, except for a tour in Germany and Italy in 1 S9o. He died at Haarlem on Jan. 1, 16 1 7.
His portraits, mostly miniatures, are masterpieces of their kind, both on account of their exquisite finish, and as fine studies of individual character. Of his larger heads, the life-size portrait of himself is probably the most striking example. Six scenes from the life of the Virgin are called his "master-pieces," from their being attempts to imitate the style of the old masters. In his command of the burin Goltzius is not surpassed even by Diirer; his eccentricities and extravagances are counterbalanced by the beauty and freedom of his execution. He began painting at the age of 42, but none of his works in this branch of art display any special excellences.
His prints amount to more than 30o plates, and are fully described in Bartsch's Peintre-graveur, and Weigel's supplement to the same work. See Karel van Mander, Schilderboeck (1604)•