The Virgin with the Dead Christ

Goltzius’ The Virgin with the Dead Christ is one of the artist’s many virtuoso prints, in which he mimicked the styles of great masters. Here, Goltzius melds the subject of the Pietà with a formal vocabulary inspired by the prints of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). The treatment of the night sky, Mary and Christ’s halos, luxurious drapery, Mary's fur-lined sleeve, and the monogram of Goltzius’ print echo similar devices in works such as Dürer’s Madonna Nursing (AMAM 1958.86) and Madonna with the Swaddled Infant (AMAM 1968.65). While he replicated Dürer’s style, in developing the composition of this print, Goltzius drew on Michelangelo’s famous St. Peter’s Pietà in Rome.