Hoop Possibly 1578 - 1709

This is Hendrick Goltzius’s engraving, Hoop, made around 1590. The image shows a full length female nude, ‘Spes’, or Hope, standing under an archway. The dramatic light and shade articulate the figure’s body and the folds of the drapery around her. Look at how Goltzius uses the formal elements of line and space to create this effect. The shadows cast by the archway and the drapery accentuate the woman’s form, creating depth, and heightening the emotional impact of the piece. The use of chiaroscuro is not merely decorative; it invites a semiotic interpretation, symbolizing the interplay between the known and unknown, the visible and invisible aspects of hope. The archway acts as a frame but also as a threshold, a space between worlds which complicates any singular interpretation. Is she emerging or retreating? The use of form suggests that hope, like art, destabilizes fixed meanings.