Maarten van Heemskerck’s Strong Men series displayed as originally intended for first time in the Netherlands

The first ever survey exhibition of the work of Maarten van Heemskerck, which will be at the Frans Hals Museum, Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar and Teylers Museum from 28 September 2024 to 19 January 2025, will reunite Heemskerck’s unique Strong Men series of paintings for the first time in over 75 years. Thanks to loans of important works from the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin, United States) and Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, United States), the twelve small panels will be together in the Netherlands for the first time, and shown as a group in the order in which Heemskerck intended – as four sets of three paintings. The reunited series will be shown at Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, which will be focusing on Heemskerck’s time in Rome and the impact this had on his later work.

Reunited for first time in over 75 years
Maarten van Heemskerck painted the Strong Men series around 1555, some 20 years after his time in Rome. They depict the demi-god Hercules, the Biblical hero Samson and the classical gods Neptune, Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter. Each of the panels shows a muscular, naked ‘strong man’ in action. The painter’s main concern was clearly to showcase his knowledge of human anatomy. Such nudes in complex poses were highly innovative in Northern Netherlandish art at the time. Heemskerck drew inspiration for the series from classical and contemporary Italian artworks which he had seen in Rome, including sculptures by Baccio Bandinelli and Michelangelo.

The Strong Men series was together until 1946, probably in the correct order: four sets of three panels, with each set including one image of Hercules, one of Samson and one of a god from antiquity. After the series was auctioned at Christie’s in 1946 the twelve small paintings ended up in three different places: the Rijksmuseum and two American collections (at the Allen Memorial Art Museum and Yale University Art Gallery). The original scheme was thus lost. Heemskerck’s series will be shown to the public in its original order at Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar for the first time since 1946.

Research
In 2012 the materials and artistic details of the panels were thoroughly studied by Ilona van Tuinen (head of the Rijksmuseum’s Print Room since 2022). She was able to reconstruct the correct order for the series of paintings on the basis of the back of the panels. The bare wood shows discoloration that provides evidence of the original frames. If the panels are placed in the correct order, a pattern of continuous discoloration can be discerned along the edges of each set. This illustrates how each set of three panels sat in its frame, which covered the edges. In Heemskerck’s day, they may have been mounted in a large 16th-century cabinet. Van Tuinen also discovered that the central panel in each set had a label with an inventory number applied by a later owner, which confirmed the reconstructed order.

One exhibition in three museums
Maarten van Heemskerck, the first ever survey exhibition of the work of Maarten Heemskerck (Heemskerk, 1498 - Haarlem, 1574) is being jointly organised by the Frans Hals Museum, Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar and Teylers Museum. It will include 150 works –134 of them by Heemskerck – from twelve countries, including leading items from the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid), The National Gallery (London), the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), the National Museum in Warsaw and the Kupferstichkabinett (Berlin). Many of these works have never before been shown in the Netherlands. Each of the three museums will showcase a different period in the life of this successful and influential 16th-century artist. ‘Bold Innovator’ at the Frans Hals Museum will focus on Heemskerck’s early work, up to his departure for Rome, combined with the work of contemporaries like Jan van Scorel and Jan Gossart. The highlight of the Frans Hals Museum’s exhibition will be the fully restored Saint Luke Painting the Madonna (1532). In ‘To Rome' Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar will tell the story of Heemskerck’s trip to Italy, showing how this experience resulted in works that were audacious and spectacular in their day. Teylers Museum will present Heemskerck as an innovative Dutch printmaker in ‘Pioneer on Paper’.

Publication
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. The lavishly illustrated publication, the first to consider Heemskerck’s body of work in its entirety, available in both Dutch and English, is published by WBOOKS, 304 pages, 23 x 27 cm, paperback with cover flaps, price € 39.95.

The exhibition and catalogue are sponsored by the Turing Foundation, the VriendenLoterij lottery, the Mondrian Fund, the Culture Fund, Blockbusterfonds Xtra, J.C. Ruigrokstichting, the Frits & To Lugt Studiefonds at Fondation Custodia, Hendrik Mullerfonds, Stichting Dorodarte, Stichting Pieter Haverkorn van Rijsewijk and Stichting Zabawas.