Claes Jacobsz van der Heck
Encyclopedia
Claes Jacobsz van der Heck (1575, Alkmaar
Alkmaar
Alkmaar is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Noord Holland. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination.-History:...

 – 1652, Alkmaar
Alkmaar
Alkmaar is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of Noord Holland. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination.-History:...

), was a Dutch Golden Age
Dutch Golden Age
The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...

 painter.

Biography

According to Karel van Mander he was a good painter, disciple of Jan Nagel (painter)
Jan Nagel (painter)
Jan Nagel was a Dutch Renaissance painter.-Biography:Nagel was born in Haarlem. Houbraken mentions him only as the teacher of Claes Jacobsz van der Heck....

, related to Maarten van Heemskerck, and specialized in landscapes.
According to Houbraken who mentions that he was listed on the last page of the Schilder-boeck
Schilder-boeck
The Schilder-Boeck is a book by the art historian Karel van Mander written in 1604. It was actually compiled from three books in total; the first was a translation from Giorgio Vasari's list of artist biographies called the Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, the...

, his works hung in the Alkmaar city hall when he was writing, and he mentions landscape views of Egmond Abbey, a Judgment of Solomon
Judgment of Solomon
The Judgment of Solomon refers to a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of Israel ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. It has become a metaphor referring to a wise judge who uses a stratagem to determine the truth, tricking the parties into revealing...

, portraits, and other historical allegories. He helped set up the Alkmaar Guild of Saint Luke
Guild of Saint Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was identified by John of Damascus as having painted the...

 in 1631.
According to the RKD he helped set up the Alkmaar Guild of Saint Luke
Guild of Saint Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was identified by John of Damascus as having painted the...

 in 1632, and much of his work hangs in the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar
Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar
Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar is a city museum located in the center of Alkmaar on the Canadaplein . The museum is devoted to presenting and preserving the cultural history of Alkmaar and the surrounding region.-History:...

. Several of his landscapes of Egmond hang in that museum and one of them shows a landscape of Egmond aan Zee
Egmond aan Zee
Egmond aan Zee is a village on the North Sea coast in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about 9 km west of Alkmaar....

 as it looked before it was washed to sea in 1717.

He was also related to the landscape painter Claes Dircksz van der Heck, who made similar landscapes and probably worked in the same workshop. According to Hessel Miedema
Hessel Miedema
Hessel Miedema is 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 Amsterdam. After his studies in 1957 he became curator of the Princessehof Ceramics Museum in...

's notes on this family in his translation of Karel van Mander's Schilder-boeck
Schilder-boeck
The Schilder-Boeck is a book by the art historian Karel van Mander written in 1604. It was actually compiled from three books in total; the first was a translation from Giorgio Vasari's list of artist biographies called the Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, the...

, "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 Houbraken he was the father of Marten Heemskerck van der Heck
Marten Heemskerck van der Heck
Marten Heemskerck van der Heck , 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 became a member of the Alkmaar Guild of St. Luke in 1653 and became regent the next year...

, but according to the RKD, Marten Heemskerck van der Heck was the son of his cousin Claes Dirksz.
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