THE TRIUMPHS OF PETRARCH

 
THIS GROUP IS SOLD

A typical example of the cycle of human life. All starts with love (1) tempered by Chastity, the pure life (2) until run over by death (3) but not forgotten due fame (4) until time whips everything out (5) and only eternity is left (6)

THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE - H.491 ( I / II )
Cupid, blindfolded, and Jupiter, below him, riding atop a chariot carried by two horses; accompanied by King Solomon, Hercules, Ovid, Tibulus, Marcellius, Pyramus and Thisbe;
 

THE TRIUMPH OF CHASTITY - H.492 ( I / II )
The personification of Chastity, seated with a unicorn next to her and holding a unicorn banner, a blindfolded and restrained Cupid, below her, riding atop a chariot carried by two unicorns; accompanied by Susana, David holding Goliath's head, Scipio, Joseph and the allegories of Continence and Temperance; classical temples seen in the background on either sides

THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH - H.493 ( I / II )
'Mors' holding a scythe rides atop a chariot driven by two oxen and tramples over humankind of all levels, including a King, a Pope and a preacher; behind, to left, hell and to right, paradise;

THE TRIUMPH OF FAME - H.494 ( I / II )
Trumpeting Fame rides atop a chariot drawn by two elephants, one of them treading on Death; Alexander the Great leads the procession with Julius Caesar by the elephants and Plato and Cato by the wheels;

THE TRIUMPH OF TIME - H.495 ( I / II )
The personification of Time, winged and seated, surrounded with various attributes, riding atop a chariot carried by two deer, destroying everything on his way; accompanied by the four seasons on foot; ruins of classical buildings are seen in the background;

Inventor:
MAARTEN VAN HEEMSKERCK  ( 1498 - 1574)
Painter and print designer; worked in Haarlem and Italy. Born in Heemskerck; son of a farmer. Trained in Haarlem under Jan van Scorel; in Italy 1532-6/7; later career in Haarlem, where one of the richest citizens. Prolific designer of compositions for prints, almost all made by others. Artists who engraved after his designs include Dirk Coornhert (c.1547-59), Philips Galle (from 1559), Cornelis Bos, Theodoor de Bry

Reference:
New Hollstein Heemskerck 491-496 (I/II) New Hollstein P.Galle 293-299
 Five on six plates, lLacking 496. From the" first edition, before the name of the publisher (Probably Philips Galle). The verses are by Hadrianus Junius.

Date:
1565 (This is the date on a drawing in Chatsworth (collection of the Duke of Devonshire)

Technical:
Engravings. Complete with text line, plate border and good margins. Good condition. Early excellent  impressions with good plate tone and still with visible guide lines for the text. Measures 19,50 by 26,50 cm on plate border. Watermark: running deer.

Engraver and publisher
PHILIPS GALLE ( Flemish; 1537 - 1612)
Leading engraver and print dealer based in Antwerp; born in 1537 in Haarlem, it's possible that he was a pupil of Dirk Volkertsz. Coornhert, moved to Antwerp where he worked in the workshop of Hieronymus Cock. After 1557 he started his own publishing and print business, for which he travelled extensively: in 1560-61 he visited the southern Netherland, France, Germany and Italy. After 1564 he settled in Antwerp, where he acquired citizenship in 1571. One of the most prolific publishers in Europe in the second half of the sixteenth century after Cock died in 1570.

Maarten van Heemskerck follows in these designs the previous example of Georg Pencz dating from around 1539, but he forms his own image language. All chariots are in the same direction making one frieze following the concept of then existing Triumph Processions. This makes the Triumph as made by Heemskerck more readable and accessible then the one of Pencz and a renewal of the 'carri trionfali'.
In their combination of the German small master tradition and the Dutch Heemskerck style they are quite unique.