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Jacob Willemsz van Veen (1456–1535), the Artist's Father

1532
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 612

This sober image of the artist’s father was painted the year Maarten left his hometown of Haarlem for an extended trip to Italy. The inscription in Dutch on the parapet speaks in the sitter’s voice: "My son portrayed me here when I had lived seventy-five years, so they say." A direct gaze confronts the viewer with the presence of a stern man nearing the end of his life. Several years later, Jacob died at the age of seventy-nine, while Maarten was still abroad.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Jacob Willemsz van Veen (1456–1535), the Artist's Father
  • Artist: Maarten van Heemskerck (Netherlandish, Heemskerck 1498–1574 Haarlem)
  • Date: 1532
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: 20 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (52.1 x 34.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, 1871
  • Object Number: 71.36
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Portrait of an Old Man, Hugo van der Goes Netherlandish, Oil on paper, laid down on wood
Portrait of an Old Man
Hugo van der Goes
ca. 1470–75
Portrait of Jacob van Veen, after Maarten van Heemskerck, from "Etchings of Pictures in the Metropolitan Museum New York", Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart French, Etching; third state of three (Gonse)
Portrait of Jacob van Veen, after Maarten van Heemskerck, from "Etchings of Pictures in the Metropolitan Museum New York"
Multiple artists/makers
1871
Portrait of Jacob van Veen, after Maarten van Heemskerck, Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart French, Etching on chine collé
Portrait of Jacob van Veen, after Maarten van Heemskerck
Multiple artists/makers
1871
Portrait of Jacob van Veen, after Maarten van Heemskerck
Multiple artists/makers
1871
Singing and Dancing Women Meeting Saul and David After the Victory, from The Story of David and Saul, plate 9
Maarten van Heemskerck
ca. 1556

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