Portrait of Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert

The monumental size and extremely lifelike quality of this portrait of Coornhert (1522-1590), the master who taught Goltzius the art of engraving, are rivaled in this period only by the portrait of Goltzius engraved by his pupil Jan Muller. While the inscription on the oval frame states that the portrait was "painted from life" (ad vivum depictus), the engraving itself was executed only after Coornhert's death. It was an act of homage and remembrance from student to master.

The portrait and its oval border were engraved on one copper plate, while the decorative surround was printed from another. The objects in each corner of the frame represent Coornhert's talents and accomplishments as an engraver and lover of painting, as a musician, as a swordsman, and as a humanist scholar. The motto in Dutch at the top center, "Weet, of rust" (Know, or be still) was Coornhert's own. The Latin inscription at the bottom praises Coornhert's love of truth and freendom as expressed in his writings.