The Frans Hals Museum, Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar and Teylers Museum are organizing the first major retrospective exhibition on Maarten van Heemskerck. With 50 paintings, 16 drawings and 68 prints by Heemskerck, the museums offer a representative impression of Van Heemskerck’s large body of work, in this exhibition at three locations. No fewer than half the paintings attributed to the artist will be brought together in the Netherlands.
Maarten van Heemskerck at Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar
Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), Self-Portrait with the Colosseum, Rome, 1533
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
The Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar tells the story of Maarten van Heemskerck’s trip to Italy and shows how this experience led to bold and, for the time, spectacular works. He arrived in Rome when the first ancient sculptures were being excavated. There he was also introduced to the work of Michelangelo, Raphael, and their contemporaries. All this Italian artworks made an enormous impression on Van Heemskerck. His style became even more expressive and dynamic. He eventually became the most important representative of the Italian Renaissance in the northern Netherlands. From 1532, Maarten van Heemskerck lived and worked in Rome for more than four years, an experience that shaped his career. The art and buildings of the Eternal City would inspire him for the rest of his life.
Research and publication
Prior to the exhibition Professor Emeritus Ilja Veldman, guest curator at all three museums, has performed extensive research. Her work has produced some important new insights, including changes to attributions, identifications of portrait subjects, and also new information on Heemskerck’s network and process.
A book on the life and work of Maarten van Heemskerck written by Ilja Veldman, with additional contributions on Heemskerck’s materials and techniques by Jessica Roeders and Mireille te Marvelde (conservators at the Frans Hals Museum), will be published to accompany the exhibition.