Dutch painter, engraver, and draftsman Maerten van Heemskerck worked on and contributed to the spread of the Italianate style among Danish painters. His teacher, Jan van Scorel, introduced Heemskerck to the Italianate style for the first time. Later, Heemskerck made the decision to advance his artistic education by studying by himself in Rome without any guidance. Heelmskerck accomplished a number of studies in architectural arts, frescoes, medieval monuments, and the fine art of the time when he was in Italy. He improved his understanding of the human anatomy through the statuettes' sketches. After his trip, he later settled back in Haarlem, where he applied the drawings from Rome as an information bank of allusion for the succeeding paintings. One of Heemskerck’s pieces of work was the Seven Wonders of the old humanity which, up to date, is in Walters’s Art Museum in Baltimore.
The Seven Wonders of the old humanity in Heemskerck's art
In the painting, there is a depiction of the seven wonders of the ancient world as the setting for the kidnapping of Helen by Paris. In the Greek mythology, Helen was the most charming woman in the land; the queen of the Sparta, which is a Greek city-state and the circumlocutory reason of the Trojan War. She was the daughter of Zeus, and her beauty led to her abduction by the Theseus. In Heemskerck’s art, there is the portrayal of Paris, who was a Troy’s prince, Abducting Helen. The cabinet display in Walters Museum illustrates the most significant artwork by Heemskerck who had many praises by his heirs as the Dutch Raphael (THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM, P.1). Heemskerck’s intentions, which twisted into lithographs created the contemporary discernment of the primeval marvels of the globe. The Dresden collected works of prints, sketches, and taken pictures, have the endowment of the outstanding example of the high quality of the rarest series.
The incandescent panorama is among the most prominent Northern landscapes that existed in the 1500’s era. Its arrangement of the timeworn amazing sights and evidence of the greatness of olden times offer the provision of the picture-puzzle for the onlookers, challenging them for the location and identification of the expensive pieces. At the top of the left foreground, there is a rearing horse, and Paris is seen urging Helen to mount on the horse and move towards the Trojan vessel that waits. The Trojan servants and soldiers are all in a hurry pacing in the direction of the water and are all loaded with ill-gotten gains from the conurbation. The Alessandro de’ Medici who was from Florence and one of the probable representatives of the painting of the piece of work may have found the plunder of being a distasteful aide memoir of Medici which was the modern sack of Rome. Conversely, the other features of the Homeric fairy tale would have been more delightful to Alessandro.
Symbolism in Heemskerck's art
The naked person who is carrying off a golden statuette of the Roman love goddess, Venus would have signified to the intellectual onlookers the witnessing of the repercussion of the judgment of Paris, in case he was holding an apple. Heemskerck emphasizes the understated signal by the explicit depiction of the view through the attached sailing vessel’s mainsail. Just behind Paris and Helen gives details of impressive urban scenery inside which are the laying down of statues and memorials of Rome which Heemskerck was quite aware. For the perfect gauge, there is also an addition of the Seven Wonders antiquity by Heemskerck, which is inclusive of the Colossus of Rhodes in the right background across the waterfront entrance, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon just in the middle distance. Heemskerck’s portrayal of the scenes is not all that incredible than the ones of the minuscule pyramids, even though there was a great destruction of both of the structures by the sixteenth century.
Ruins and juxtaposition in Heemskerck's art
Speckled among the splendor are the signals of putrefying which are the artful ruins of Heemskerck, which shadows the bright loveliness of the whole antique buildings. He may have prepared such juxtaposition for the peculiar Maniera upshot of Roman, or perchance the prophecy of the impending fate of the relic of the typical Netherlands. Heemskerck presented, maybe by ill advice, the mighty bridegroom with a paean to disaster and perish. Indeed, Heemskerck provides a blend of contemporary painting genres that is the world scenery and the history image of the sixteenth century. The record art with the prominence on the human stature in mythological or historical scenes has for long has a view as more advanced to the simple background demarcation (Lee and Fraser, p.59).
The significance of the rainbow in Heemskerck's art
From the background appears a huge rainbow straddling mountains and ocean in the grander style that surpasses even the Colossus at the entrance of the harbor and its top fades away where the rainfall and the clouds are in the gloom. The colors of the rainbow are an unexciting pallid yellow and tanned that combine unnoticeably with the cold blues of the environing clouds. The rainbow signifies the bad omen either departing storm or an approaching one; and is just like the forefront snake and the blazing vessels (Lee and Fraser, p.60).
Heemskerck's influence and the display of his work at the Walters Museum
With the assistance of the famous series of Antonio Tempesta or Marten de Vos, there can be comprehension of the significance of the topic in the Renaissance. Also, the coins, medals, and books offer an evidence of the organization of the image expressions that exist in the art and customs. The extent of the original Green mausoleum is the perfect position for the display of the piece of work. The presentation of the Seven Wonders of the World by Heemskerck was not as the grave imitations of the ancient buildings that existed previously. On the other hand, his concentration was more on the excellent small-sized structural design as its creation in silver and goldsmiths’ workings of treasure painting and whose collection was in the Kunstkammern of the European, for instance, the Green Vault. The original structures portrayed in the Heemskerck’s piece of work of the Seven Wonders of the World always remind the people who come to Walters Museum to have a view the work, of the, once existed valuable treasure boxes. In about 1600, the precious fortune boxes were a representation of magnificence, prosperity, and aspiration of the past ancient pagan culture which the majority embraced during the era (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, P.2).
Exhibition of Heemskerck's work at the Walters Museum
In the exhibition of the Walters Museum in Baltimore is the accompanying of the list of the realistic art which came later after Heemskerck at the Dresden collected works of Photographs, pictures, and Prints. In three large pamphlets in the storage areas, nearly the entire 599 pieces of art that comprise of print opus have lived to tell the tale. For the first time, there will be making of the various holding digitally easy to get to, due to its precious quality. The display presents one of the mainly valuable bits and pieces of the collected works. Heemskerck’s work in the seven wonders is one of the best jobs that he ever did prove him to be one of the best artists that ever lived.
Works Cited
Lee, Raymond L., and Alistair B. Fraser. THE RAINBOW BRIDGE. Penn State Press, 2001.
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. “Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden – The Eight Wonders of the World by Maarten Van Heemskerck.” Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden – Startseite, Jan. 2013, www.skd.museum/en/special-exhibitions/archive/the-eight-wonders-of-the-world-by-maarten-van-heemskerck/.
THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM. “Panorama with the Abduction of Helen amidst the Wonders of the Ancient World · The Walters Art Museum · Works of Art.” The Walters Art Museum · Works of Art, art.thewalters.org/detail/21286/panorama-with-the-abduction-of-helen-amidst-the-wonders-of-the-ancient-world/.
