Goltzius was born in
Venlo as the son of Rutger van Weertsburg and Catharina Goltzius. His mother was the daughter of Hubrecht Goltz or Goltzius (the Elder), a painter who was originally from
Hinsbeck in
Upper Guelders (present-day Germany), a town close to Venlo, also in Upper Guelders (present-day Netherlands) where he had moved in 1494. His father had adopted the name of his wife at their marriage. Hubert was initially trained by his father. , 1557 He was then sent to
Liège where from 1544 to 1546 he studied painting and engraving at the academy operated by the prominent humanist and painter
Lambert Lombard. In his preface to the reader (“Ad Lectorem Praefatio”) of the
Vivae omnium fere imperatorum Imagines, a C. Iulio Caes. usque ad Carolum .V. et Ferdinandum eius fratrem, Goltzius describes his apprenticeship with Lombard. He praised his master for his dedication to learning from older masters by making drawings after pictures and wall paintings by earlier German artists. During his apprenticeship with Lombard, Goltzius studied the historical writings and relics from Antiquity, in particular coins. In 1565, he would assist
Dominicus Lampsonius with the editing and publishing of his
Lamberti Lombardi apvd Ebvrones pictoris celeberrimi vita, a
panegyric on Lombard that praises his vast learning, role in educating a generation of Netherlandish artists and early promotion of printmaking in Northern Europe. From 1548 he was in Antwerp where he married Lysbeth (Elisabeth) Verhulst. His wife was the daughter of a painter from Mechelen and the sister of
Mayken Verhulst and Barbara Verhulst, who were respectively married to the painters
Pieter Coecke van Aelst and
Jacob de Punder. A daughter of Mayken Verhulst and Pieter Coecke van Aelst, also called Mayken, would later marry the famous Flemish painter
Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Goltzius would occasionally collaborate on commissions with his brother-in-law Jacob de Punder. Through his marriage he had become connected to very important artists active in Flanders in the period. The family had four sons: Marcel became an apothecary, Scipio a draughtsman and painter (only one known painting of
Fruit and Vegetable Vendors,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Julius an engraver at the
Officina Plantiniana printing house in Antwerp and Aurelius whose job description is unknown. The first names of the sons were those of Roman rulers. There were also three daughters. He must have been active as a painter in his early years in Antwerp. On 28 September 1551 he testified that two years before he had delivered to Elisabeth Borremans, wife of the painter Jan van Sevenhoven, 8 paintings of which four scenes, respectively of a Cleopatra, an Ecce Homo, an Our Lord on the Cross and a Christmas Night. He also testified that he had supplied four canvases representing respectively Adam and Eve, an Ecce Homo, the Carrying of the Cross and Lucretia. He painted a
Last Judgement for the tribunal of the city hall of Venlo in 1557 (now in the
Limburg Museum). Goltzius also started to deal in art and antiquities, in particular in coins. This he did on occasion in partnership with
Abraham Ortelius, the famous geographer who was also a dealer in antiques. At the time, collecting ancient coins had become fashionable, as the cost and relatively large quantity of coins available put this activity within the financial reach of the professional and trading classes of the time. Hubert Goltzius made two trips, one of two months in 1556, another of two years in 1558-1560, during which he visited 978 coin collections in 120 cities. In the Southern Netherlands alone, he reported no less than 119 collections. His portrait was painted twice by the eminent portrait painter
Antonis Mor in exchange for his book on medals.
Melchior Lorck also made an engraved portrait which was used in his last book of 1576 and also independently. He died in
Bruges. When he died he left a lot of unpublished manuscripts. The engraver and numismatist
Jacob de Bie worked during the years 1617 to 1620 on compiling the first collections of these works. The
Plantin Press of Antwerp published his
Opera Omnia in 1644-1645 in five volumes, with a frontispiece engraved by
Cornelis Galle the Elder after a design by Rubens, who was an avid collector of ancient medals. The
Verdussen printing press in Antwerp reprinted in 1708 the Plantin edition to which was added extensive commentary. ==References==