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Drawing of three armored men on horseback with banners

Three men sit atop three horses on a grassy path. Each man has a plumed helmet, a cape, and a tall post with a pennant waving from it. The three horses are also in regalia, with elaborate breastplates that appear to have shield-shaped crests on them. The horses appear to be in motion and have open mouths. The man on the left looks toward the center. The man in the center holds a scepter and looks up and to the left. The man on the right is in profile gazing left.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1965.205
People
Maarten van Heemskerck, Netherlandish (1498 - 1574)
Title
Three Heroes of the Old Testament
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1567
Culture
Netherlandish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/296618

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown ink over black chalk, incised and with a vertical line at left edge in black chalk, on cream antique laid paper, with an incised framing line
Dimensions
20.7 x 25.8 cm (8 1/8 x 10 3/16 in.)
mount: 27.3 x 34.7 cm (10 3/4 x 13 11/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: lower left, brown ink: Martin Van heemskerck / Inventor / 1567
  • inscription: lower edge [beneath each hero], brown ink, in artist's hand: Judas Machabeus David rex Israhel Josue
  • exhibition label: former label, black typeface: National Gallery of Art / Washington, D. C. / Exhibition: THE AGE OF BRUEGEL: NETHERLANDISH / DRAWINGS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY / Date: 7 Nov. 86 - 18 Jan. 87 Cat. # 71 / Artist: maerten van heemskerck / Title: The Three hebrew Worthies: Joshua, [underlined] / David and Judas Maccabeus [underlined] / Lender: Harvard University Art Museums
  • watermark: center: a shield with letter B, surmounted by a crown with two quatrefoils and below a banderole with "Nicolas Lebé"? The watermark is similar to Briquet 8077-8079 and Heawood 2877
  • collector's mark: mount, verso, lower center, black ink, stamp: L. 1496 (John McGowan)
  • inscription: mount, verso, lower right, graphite: Coll. John MacGowan / (Fagan 273)
  • watermark: mount: unidentified
  • inscription: mount, upper center, graphite: 40
  • inscription: mount, lower center, graphite: 41

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
John M. MacGowan, Edinburgh (L. 1496, with his mark), possibly sold [T. Philipe, London, 26 January - 4 February, 1804]. Meta and Paul J. Sachs, Cambridge, MA (L. 2091, without his mark), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1965.k

NOTE: At the T. Philipe sale, under lot 303-4; were five objects each described as "Scriptural Subject" by Martin van Heemskerck

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
1965.205
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • An Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish Drawings and Watercolors, checklist, Unpublished (1954), cat. no. 39, p. 10
  • Agnes Mongan, Memorial Exhibition: Works of Art from the Collection of Paul J. Sachs [1878-1965]: given and bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1965), p. 206
  • Konrad Oberhuber, European Master Drawings of Six Centuries from the Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo, 1979), cat. no. 31, n.p., repr. pl. 31
  • Matthias Waschek, Marjorie B. Cohn, Judith Mann, and Stephan Wolohojian, Ideal [Dis-] Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, exh. cat., Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis, 2008), cat. no. 44, p. 38, repr. pp. 34-35

Exhibition History

  • An Exhibition of Dutch and Flemish Drawings and Watercolors, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/01/1954 - 04/30/1954
  • Art of the Northern Renaissance, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 02/13/1967 - 04/01/1967
  • European Master Drawing of Six Centuries from the Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11/03/1979 - 12/16/1979
  • Northern Renaissance Art: Selected Works, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 02/28/1984 - 04/08/1984
  • Prints and Drawings from the Time of Holbein and Breugel, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 11/21/1985 - 01/12/1986
  • The Heavenly Twins: Edward W. Forbes, Paul J. Sachs and the Building of a Collection, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/23/1995 - 12/17/1995
  • Ideal [Dis-] Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, 10/24/2008 - 10/03/2009

Subjects and Contexts

  • Dutch, Flemish, & Netherlandish Drawings

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu