The Four Disgracers

Working in 1588 with the painter Cornelis Cornelisz van Harleem, Hendrik Goltzius produced a series of four tondo engravings. Cornelisz provided the designs and Goltzius turned them into engravings.

The series has become one of the most famous in the history of printmaking. It depicts four mythological figures, each the tragic victim of a fall from grace, which explains the name of the cycle. The most famous of the four was Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, the others being Phaeton, Ixion and Tantalus.

Each figure is closely framed, struggling convulsively to resist his inevitable fall to death. The poses are similar, although the figures are viewed from different angles. The feet seem to be kicking, the arms flailing. The spectator is a helpless witness to a drama being played out before his eyes, his unease heightened by the figures' straining muscles and the sharply angled viewpoints.