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This is a drawing of a banquet scene. The scene depicts an elaborately set dining table surrounded by individuals in historical dress engaged in conversation and dining activities. The composition includes decorative walls and arched ceilings. The figures are shown in various poses, some serving wine, others eating, all with intricate garments. The use of shading and line work is meticulous, highlighting expressions and textures, and giving depth to the interior space. The style is reminiscent of a Renaissance or Baroque engraving.
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This is a drawing of a banquet scene. The scene depicts an elaborately set dining table surrounded by individuals in historical dress engaged in conversation and dining activities. The composition includes decorative walls and arched ceilings. The figures are shown in various poses, some serving wine, others eating, all with intricate garments. The use of shading and line work is meticulous, highlighting expressions and textures, and giving depth to the interior space. The style is reminiscent of a Renaissance or Baroque engraving.

National Gallery of Art · Print

Banquet at the House of Tarquinius Collatinus

Hendrik Goltzius

Date
c. 1578
Medium
engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 20.9 x 24.7 cm (8 1/4 x 9 3/4 in.)
Classification
Print
Accession number
1982.99.1
Credit line
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Time span
1551 to 1600
Department
CG-E
Original NGA record Wikidata

Portfolio and series

Series
The Story of Lucretia

Subjects and terms

  • Dutch
  • classical
  • secular
  • engraving
  • Lucretia
  • Tarquin
Provenance

Friedrich Quiring [born 1886], Eberswalde (Lugt 1041c);

Inscription

at left, in image on table cloth, in plate: Phls Galle / excudebat.; below image, in plate: Effera Romanis dum cingitur Ardea signis, / Et patitur longas obsidione moras / Tarquinius iuvenis, socios dapibusque meroque / Accipit, uxorum mutua cura subest. / Quisque suam laudat Regalia protinus omnes / Tecta petunt cernunt pervigilare mero. (While the besieged Ardea is surrounded by Roman legions and has to withstand a lengthy siege, the young Tarquin entertains his friends with a lavish meal; they talk about the love between them and their wives. Each man praises his own wife. They all go straight away to the royal palace and drink wine there all night.) [translation from Leeflang, Huigen, and Ger Luijten. _Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617): Drawings, Prints and Paintings._ Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2003, p. 40.)]

Watermarks

Dolphin

NGA object ID 61321. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.