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Lot Essay
Heemskerck was a versatile artist who was a painter and draughtsman who made many drawings for prints, such as the present lot. After spending several years early in his career in Rome, he returned to his native Haarlem and remained there for nearly the rest of his life. His art displayed the lessons of his Italian sojourn and bear the influences of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist art, as well as classical antiquity. He was an erudite and devout artist.
The present drawing is for an engraving (fig. 1) by Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert (1522-1590), a theologian and printmaker. It was part of a series of eight illustrating The Triumph of Patience (New Hollstein 436-443). The cycle of moralizing Biblical stories is analogous to triumphal military processions in its iconography. The drawings are all approximately the same size, and share a similar compositional format. The subject rides on an animal through a landscape with scenes from his life in the background as well as emblems referring to their virtues. Heemskerck's distinctive penwork with areas of cross hatching to indicate volume and shadow along with curvilinear strokes of the figures and animals' hair and extremities are evident throughout. The engravings include a band of text in Latin below the images. These Latin verses were often written by Hadrianus Junius (1511-1575), a humanist scholar.
Coornheert was a frequent collaborator of Heemskerck's, and his book, Zedekunst das is Wellevenskunste was the source for many of the subjects of his engravings. The overarching theme of the series is man's progress towards divine mercy and deliverance from sin. The cycle begins with the personification of Patience with Hope and Longing as they triumph over Fortune. That is followed by represenations of Isaac, Joseph, David, Job, Tobias (the present lot), Saint Stephen, and culminates with the Triumph of Christ. Seven of the eight drawings by Heemskerck survive. The triumphs of Isaac, Joseph and Saint Stephen are in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the triumph of David is in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and The triumphs of Job, Christ and the present sheet remain in private collections.
The present drawing is for an engraving (fig. 1) by Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert (1522-1590), a theologian and printmaker. It was part of a series of eight illustrating The Triumph of Patience (New Hollstein 436-443). The cycle of moralizing Biblical stories is analogous to triumphal military processions in its iconography. The drawings are all approximately the same size, and share a similar compositional format. The subject rides on an animal through a landscape with scenes from his life in the background as well as emblems referring to their virtues. Heemskerck's distinctive penwork with areas of cross hatching to indicate volume and shadow along with curvilinear strokes of the figures and animals' hair and extremities are evident throughout. The engravings include a band of text in Latin below the images. These Latin verses were often written by Hadrianus Junius (1511-1575), a humanist scholar.
Coornheert was a frequent collaborator of Heemskerck's, and his book, Zedekunst das is Wellevenskunste was the source for many of the subjects of his engravings. The overarching theme of the series is man's progress towards divine mercy and deliverance from sin. The cycle begins with the personification of Patience with Hope and Longing as they triumph over Fortune. That is followed by represenations of Isaac, Joseph, David, Job, Tobias (the present lot), Saint Stephen, and culminates with the Triumph of Christ. Seven of the eight drawings by Heemskerck survive. The triumphs of Isaac, Joseph and Saint Stephen are in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the triumph of David is in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and The triumphs of Job, Christ and the present sheet remain in private collections.