Over de betekenis van het werk van Jan van Scorel omstreeks 1530 voor oudere en jongere tijdgenoten (2)

AbstractThe Portrait of a 42 year-old Man in the Von Wied Collection (Fig. 2, Notes 3 and 5) has repeatedly been associated with Maerten van Heemskerck's Portrait of a 34 year-old Man (traditionally identified as Pieter Bicker) in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Fig. I, Notes 1 and 2) and attributed to the same artist. However, in view of the inconsistencies and weaknesses in the former, the undeniable similarities that exist between the two pictures should be interpreted as evidence that this painting was based on the one in Amsterdam and was done by an imitator of Heemskerck. A small number o f other works, known in the original or from copies, may be attributed to the same hand, mainly on the basis of a peculiar deformity that mars the depiction of the hands (Fig. 3-6). One of them is a portrait (known from two copies, Figs. 5 and 6) of a member of a prominent family in Alkmaar which leads one to think that the artist was active in that city. The predominance of Heemskerck's influence over that of Jan van Scorel, as seen in the work of the Pseudo-Heemskerck, appears to illustrate a certain amount of competition between Jan van Scorel and his assistant and junior by a few years, Maerten van Heemskerck. It lends credibility to Carel van Mander's story (in his biography of Heemskerck) according to which Scorel allowed Heemskerck to leave his workshop because he was jealous of the latter's success.