Athena1.0042_Goltzius

Hendrik Goltzius, 1558-1617, "The Alliance of Mercury and Minerva", drawing, composition for print, 1588, print by Jacob Matham. The etching is attributed to Jacob Matham after Goltzius.

The nude Minerva is entirely neoclassical.

"The widespread and entirely un-ancient nakedness that characterizes A[thena] after Benvenuto Cellini's bronze on the pedestal of the Perseus monument (1554, Florence, Loggia dei Lanzi) — incidentally in contrast to the other renowned small-scale bronzes of the Renaissance by Jacopo Sansovino and Giambologna — is striking. As ruler of scholars and artists, fighting ignorance while scantily clad, she appears as able-bodied as the Archangel Michael yet as alluring as Aphrodite [in the Spranger picture]. This startling exposure, justifiable only in allegorical terms, culminates in Hendrick Goltzius' double portrait of A[thena] and Hermes, both naked apart from their helmets (1611, Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum[=Athena1.0042_Goltzius]). Lavinia Fontana, who shows a rear view of A[thena] dressing, can at least cite Homer, and she also conceals indecent body parts, unlike in the image type of the Toilet of Aphrodite (1613, Rome, Galleria, Borghese[=Athena1.0066_Fontana])." (C. Schmälzle, s.v. "Athena" in Moog-Grünewald RMM 163.