Anverwandelt. Die Antike in den römischen Zeichnungen und der Druckgraphik Maarten van Heemskercks

Abstract

Maarten van Heemskercks (1498–1574) Roman drawings in the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin are considered important visual sources in the study of ancient architecture and sculpture. For many of the prints he produced after his return, van Heemskerck repeatedly drew on motifs from his collection of Roman sketches, which contributed to their enormous dissemination and long-lasting reception. The iconographically complex prints were not primarily concerned with the topographically and archaeologically correct depiction of ancient monuments. Rather, various modes of reuse and reinterpretation can be discerned: ancient buildings served as historically locatable monuments, but in variations and recompositions they also created an “ancient impression” whose ambivalence opened up new levels of meaning. Based on careful observation of what was available in his drawings, Van Heemskerck created a new, universally valid idea of antiquity, authenticated by his signature.