Claes Jacobsz van der Heck - A view of Egmond Abbey

Claes Jacobsz van der Heck (Nicolaes Jacobsz van der Heck) (c.1575 in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

– 1652 in Alkmaar), was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...

painter.

Biography

Claes Jacobsz van der Heck was the son of Jacob Dircksz (c. 1534-1608) and Adriana (died 1591) van der Heck, and the grand-nephew of painter Maarten van Heemskerck. According to

Hessel Miedema Hessel Miedema (21 January 1929, Sneek – 14 April 2019) was a leading Dutch art historian and the world authority on Karel van Mander. Biography He was born in Sneek, but grew up in Amsterdam, where he studied art history at the University of Am ...

's notes on this family in his translation of Karel van Mander's Schilder-boeck, "Jacques van der Heck" (or Jacob Dircksz) was a son of Maarten van Heemskerck's sister Neeltje and her husband Dirk van der Heck. Jacques' son "Niclaes" was Claes Jacobsz van der Heck. Heemskerck had disinherited "another nephew" (presumably a Dirk Dirksz, the later father of Claes Dircksz van der Heck), and left a portion in his will to Jacob Dircksz. According to Karel van Mander, he was a good painter, a disciple of

Jan Nagel Johan Georg "Jan" Nagel (born 20 June 1939) is a Dutch politician who was a member of the Labour Party, and later formed his own parties. He is currently in the Pensioners' Party 50PLUS. Nagel started his career in his twenties on VARA-Radi ...

, and specialized in landscapes.Niclaes van der Heck
''van t'gheslacht van Marten Hemskerck, en Discipel van Ian Naghel, wesende een goet Schilder, besonder in Lantschap'' (Niclaes van der Heck, family of Marten Hemskerck, pupil of Ian Naghel, was a good landscape painter) on the last page of Karel van Mander's ''Schilderboeck'', 1604, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature According to Houbraken who mentions that he was listed on the last page of the Schilder-boeck, his works hung in the Alkmaar city hall when he was writing, and he mentions landscape views of Egmond Abbey, a Judgment of Solomon, portraits, and other historical allegories. Claes Jacobsz specialized in views of abbeys and castles. Regarding Egmond, "Dr. S. de Vries suggests that van der Heck's prototype was probably the view by Gilles de Saens in the Townhall, Zottegem." Claes Jacobsz helped set up the Alkmaar Guild of Saint Luke in 1631-32.Nicolaas vander Hek Biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadtwisting'' (Twyndraat) fr ...

, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature According to the RKD much of his work hangs in the

Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar is a city museum located in the center of Alkmaar on the Canadaplein (Canada Square). The museum is devoted to presenting and preserving the cultural history of Alkmaar and the surrounding region. History In 1873 the mus ...

.Claes Jacobsz van der Heck
in the RKD Several of his landscapes of Egmond hang in that museum and one of them shows a landscape of Egmond aan Zee as it looked before it was washed to sea in 1717. Known as the "master of Alkmaar", Claes Jacobsz also designed and created coats of arms and guild-banners. He was second cousin to landscape painter

Claes Dircksz van der Heck Claes Dircksz van der Heck (1595, Alkmaar – 1649, Alkmaar), was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. Biography According to the RKD he became a member of the Alkmaar Guild of Saint Luke in 1635, after his cousin Claes Jacobsz van der Heck ...

, who made similar landscapes and probably worked in the same workshop. According to Houbraken, Claes Jacobsz was the father of

Marten Heemskerck van der Heck Marten Heemskerck van der Heck (1620, Alkmaar – 1660, Alkmaar), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography According to Houbraken he was the son of Nicolaes van der Heck, and the nephew of Maerten van Heemskerck, after whom he was named. He ...

.MARTEN HEEMSKERK vander HEK, Zoon van Nicolaas vander Hek
in ''De groote schouburgh'' Other offspring were the notary Jacob Claesz van der Heck and the apothecary Cornelis van der Heck.

References

External links

Judgement of Salomon by Claes Jacobsz. van der Heck
in the RKD
Image database
(search term: Heck) of

shows Judgement of Solomon by Heck, completed in 1616
Claes Jacobsz van der Heck
on

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heck, Claes Jacobsz Van Der 1575 births 1652 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters People from Alkmaar Painters from Alkmaar