1595
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Pallas Athena is a 1595 by Jan Pietersz Saenredam, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Pallas Athena stands tall in a flowing robe, her helmet tucked under one arm. Her gaze is sharp, her spear gripped tight. A shield leans against her side, marked with a snake. This engraving comes from a print series showing the Judgment of Paris. The lines curve and twist to show light and shadow. They make Athena’s armor look real. Look up chiaroscuro next.
Goltzius popularized a style of engraving with mesmerizing patterns of curving, tapering, and crisscrossing lines; it was especially appreciated in the late 1500s. Designed for his pupil Saenredam to engrave, these prints depict the three goddesses from the tale of The Judgment of Paris , in which each claimed the golden apple awarded to the most beautiful. Jupiter deferred judgment to Paris, a mortal esteemed for his fair-mindedness. Juno and Athena tried to bribe Paris with an empire and skill in war, but Venus made him an offer he could not resist: Helen, the world’s most beautiful woman.…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jan Pieterszoon (abbr. Pietersz.) Saenredam (c. 1565 – 6 April 1607) was a Dutch Northern Mannerist painter, printmaker in engraving, and cartographer, and father of the painter of church interiors, Pieter Jansz…
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