Seated Woman

The fluency, verve, and control with which Goltzius wielded his pen is exquisitely manifest in this signed and dated study. While the architectural elements are composed of regular parallel hatches, the seated woman is rendered using dense curving strokes, which skillfully describe the undulating folds of her dress. Her twisting torso and refined hand gestures further add to the sense of overt elegance that this drawing exudes. Although the specific subject of the composition remains unidentified, the overgrown ancient structures in the background and the attributes scattered in the foreground—a pen case, an inkwell, and an open book—recall contemporary representations of Clio, the Muse of History. Produced not long after Goltzius returned to Haarlem from his yearlong stay in Italy, this drawing also records the artist’s productive engagement with the Venetian artistic tradition, most notably the broad and fluid manner encountered in woodcuts and drawings by Titian.