This year Teylers Museum Haarlem launched its wonderful Raphael exhibition showing over fifty drawings by the famous Renaissance master. At the moment the exhibition has a new topic, the recently purchased drawing by the Dutch 16th century artist Maarten van Heemskerck. But what links these two artists, and why should they be exhibited in the same display?
The hitherto unknown drawing by Van Heemskerck shows a study of four putti and relates to the artist´s Roman period 1532-1536. And as it turned out, Italian drawings by Maarten van Heemskerck are very rare. Most of his drawings made during his Italian journey disappeared and only a small group of them survived. To get an idea, Van Heemskerck´s Roman sketchbook is part of the collection of the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin and Teylers Museum until recently only had one drawing by Van Heemskerck. Maarten van Heemskerck was one of the first Dutch artists to travel to Italy to see the art of Michelangelo and Raphael that was so totally different from art in the north.
The special thing with this sheet is that it directly relates to a scene from Raphaels Sala di Costantino in the Vatican. This sala was once commissioned by pope Julius II and was finished under the Medici pope Leo X, known for his great love of art and extravagance. After Raphaels’s death in 1520 his primary pupil Giulio Romano completed the frescoes of the room and also made references to the new pope showing symbols that are related to his Florentine family. Giulio combined strong symbols, as for example the putto carrying the Medici ring on the right, and two putti just above holding the papal tiara. The statement was clear, the Medici now had their own descendant as head of the Vatican.
Van Heemskerck made detailed studies of the figures probably to remind him of their liveliness once back in Haarlem. And again after many centuries, in Haarlem it is now! But there is more. It is shown with Raphaels own sketch for the putto carrying the same Medici ring as in the Van Heemskerck study (see below). It was already part of the Teylers collection. This drawing by Raphael probably served as an idea for his pupils to follow for the decoration of the Sala. So here Van Heemskerck, Raphael and Giulio Romano really come together. For Teylers Museum it is a very important master drawing that covers an interesting century in many ways. Together with the Vereniging Rembrandt and its fund for prints and drawings the sheet was purchased in New York at The Monroe Warshaw Gallery.
