Artwork
Portrait of Johannes Colmannus (1471-1538)
Portrait of Johannes Colmannus (1471-1538) is an oil painting by the Mannerist artist Maarten van Heemskerck. It dates from 1539 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work is a portrait depicting Johannes Colmannus, a man who lived from 1471 to 1538.
The work is a portrait depicting Johannes Colmannus, a man who lived from 1471 to 1538. Painted by Maarten van Heemskerck in 1539, the piece focuses solely on the representation of the sitter without additional narrative elements or explicit symbolic attributes described in the available records. As a straightforward portrait from the Northern Renaissance, the painting serves primarily to document the physical appearance of Colmannus, a figure associated with the Royal Dutch Antiquarian Society's collection history.
Technique & Style
The Portrait of Johannes Colmannus is executed in oil paint on panel, a standard support for Netherlandish portraiture of the period. The work measures 77.6 cm in height by 59.4 cm in width. As a painted portrait produced in 1539, it falls within the oil-on-panel tradition characteristic of Maarten van Heemskerck's practice, with the medium and support documented in both cataloguing records and structured data entries for the work.
No further details regarding the handling of the paint, surface condition, or specific stylistic qualities are documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The portrait of Johannes Colmannus was painted by Maarten van Heemskerck in 1539, the year following Colmannus's death in 1538. Executed in oil on panel, it was created as a posthumous commemorative likeness of the sitter.
The work was at one time in the ownership of Jan Pieter Six VI. It is documented as belonging to the collection of the Rijksmuseum and the Royal Dutch Antiquarian Society, and has been associated with locations including the Rijksmuseum, the Prinsenhof, and the town hall of Delft.
Overview
Maarten van Heemskerck’s 1539 oil portrait presents Johannes Colmannus, a late‑15th‑century figure, seated against a muted backdrop. The sitter is dressed in a dark, fur‑trimmed robe and a black hat, holding an open book while a feather quill rests behind his ear. A heraldic shield bearing a lion on a red field hangs on the wall behind him, adding a subtle emblematic touch.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Maarten van Heemskerck (born Maerten Jacobsz van Veen; 1 June 1498 – 1 October 1574), also known as Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen, was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem.
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Pieter Gillis
Guillaume Budé (1467–1540)
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Portrait of John Chambers
Portrait of Sebastian Münster
Portrait of an Old Man
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Portrait of Sybrand Pompejusz. Occo
Portrait of a Haarlem Citizen
Männliches Bildnis