Maarten van Heemskerck

With Perls, Berlin, in the 1920s;
With D.A. Hoogendijk & Co., Amsterdam, 1929;
From whom acquired by Dr. A.F. Philips, Eindhoven;
Thence by descent until offered for sale, "The Property of a Distinguished European Collector," London, Christie's, 8 December 2005, lot 34, where unsold;
Acquired by the present owners after the sale.

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Tentoonstelling van Oude Kunst door de Vereeniging van Handelaren in Oude Kunst Nederland, 1929, no. 130, as Jan van Scorel.

L. Baldass, "Bildnisse des niederländische Romanismus," in Städel-Jahrbuch (1930): p. 83, reproduced fig. XIXa, as Jan van Scorel;
A.B. de Vries, Het Noord-Nederlandsch portret in de tweede helft van de 16e eeuw door, Amsterdam 1934, p. 22, no. 130, as Jan van Scorel;
P. Wescher, "Heemskerck und Scorel," in Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, vol. 59 (1938): pp. 244ff, reproduced fig. 7, as Maarten van Heemskerck;
C.H. de Jonge, "Jan van Scorel," in Niederländische Malerei im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, Amsterdam 1941, p. 356, reproduced fig. 308, as Jan van Scorel;
G.J. Hoogewerff, De Noord-Nederlandsche Schilderkunst, s'-Gravenhage 1936-1947, vol. 4, pp. 335ff, reproduced fig. 156; vol. 5, p. 158, no. 60;
J. Bruyn, "Vroege portretten van Maerten van Heemskerck," in Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, vol. 3 (1955): p. 33, note 3, as Maarten van Heemskerck;
K.G. Boon, "Rondom Aertgen," in Miscellanea J.Q. van Regteren Altena, Amsterdam 1969, p. 60, as Maarten van Heemskerck;
M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, XII, Leiden and Brussels 1975, p. 127, no. 365, reproduced pl. 194, as Jan van Scorel;
R. Grosshans, Maerten van Heemskerck, Die Gemälde, Berlin 1980, pp. 104-105, no. 13, reproduced pl. 13. as Maarten van Heemskerck.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel has been recently restored and cradled. The surface is flat and the paint layer is stable. However, this picture in the past has been unstable and the associated losses have been extensively restored. Most of the restorations are visible under ultraviolet light and one can see that almost all of the sky is retouched, which may include the tree in the upper left which may be a creation of the restorer. In the figure a reasonable amount of retouching has been applied to his coat and his face is also reasonably well preserved, except in the cheek where a cluster of retouches has been applied. In the hand and the cup however, there are numerous retouches. There is no question that the painting is compromised by the condition but the restoration is exhaustive and well handled.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

First published as a work of Jan van Scorel by Baldass in 1930, the present work has since been identified as an autograph work by Scorel's pupil, Maarten van Heemskerck.  Although Friedländer still endorsed the attribution to Scorel as late as the 1975 edition of his Early Netherlandish Painting, Rainald Grosshans published it as an early work of van Heemskerck, dating it to circa 1530, in his authoritative 1980 monograph, and the attribution has remained intact since. 

It is easy to understand the confusion over the attribution of this work, as Heemskerck was eager to absorb the lessons and style of his teacher.  He entered Scorel's workshop in Haarlem shortly after the older artist had returned from his trip to Italy, a trip which had a profound influence not only on his own art, but which also profoundly affected the course of Northern painting in general.  One need only compare Scorel's Portrait of a Man of circa 1535 in the Staatliche Museum, Berlin (fig. 1) with this painting to see the influence the one artist had upon the other.  Heemskerck embarked on his own Roman sojourn in 1532 and was as influenced by the art that he saw there as was his master.  Upon his return to Haarlem, Heemskerck received many important commissions and his productivity, erudition and inventiveness made him one of the most influential artists of his generation. 

The present work depicts a handsome man, in early middle-age, dressed in a black beret, a black jacket with a small, fine white collar and rich fur cloak.  He stares off to the right, with a determined, thoughtful expression.  In his right hand he holds what appears to be a shallow cup or dish.  Behind him is an extensive mountainous landscape with a distant mountain-top city or fortress, shrubbery and two figures on a path.  Although it is unclear what this man's connection to the landscape is, the secret may be contained within the object in his hand.  G.J. Hoogewerff (see Literature) identified this object as a compass.  Although no needle is depicted, and it is therefore impossible to confirm this identification, compasses were often used as iconographic emblems for the guidance of the Christian soul.  Much as a compass needle always points north, so does the Christian's moral compass always point towards the actions and example of Jesus Christ.  If one accepts this reading, then the distant "city on the hill" becomes heaven, or salvation, and the two figures on the path -- the one pointing the way and guiding the other -- become conscience and the human soul, finding their way along the path of redemption.  

This theological interpretation is by no means the only explanation of this work.  It could be that this painting once had a pendent and was simply a double portrait of a man and his wife.  Although, if this is the case, it must be pointed out that the man's position is reversed:  other early portraits by Heemskerck typically depict the man gazing to the left and his wife to the right (see, for example, his Portrait of Pieter Gerritsz. Bicker and his Wife Anna Pietersd. Codde of 1529, in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. nos. A 3518 & 3519).