What is Martin van Heemskerck?
[[File:Heemskerck-zelfp-detail.jpg|thumb|right|Marten van Heemskerck, self-portrait (detail)]] [[File:Heemskerck Construction of St Peters.jpg|thumb|Construction of new St Peter's in Rome by Maerten van Heemskerck (c.1536, Staatliche Museen, Berlin)]] '''Maerten van Heemskerck''' or '''Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen''' (1 June 1498 &ndash; 1 October 1574) was one of the best known [[Netherlands|Dutch]] portrait and religious painters of the 16th century (1500s). He became famous for a series of coloured [[print]]s of the [[Seven Wonders of the World]]. Marten van Heemskerck was born in the town of Heemskerck, near Haarlem in Holland. His father was a farmer. Marten was [[apprentice]]d to two painters in Haarlem, but was called home by his father to help with the farm work. Marten ran away from home, and in a single day travelled 50 miles to the town of [[Delft]]. He found another master to teach him painting, but soon left him as well. He then went to Haarlem where from 1527 to 1529 he worked with a painter called Jan van Scorel. One of the artists who influenced Marten van Heemskerck at this time was Jan Mabuse who had travelled to [[Italy]] and had seen the paintings of famous artists from [[Florence]] and [[Venice]]. Marten began to copy the style of Mabuse's paintings. In 1532 he went to Italy and spent several years going from town to town, looking at the artworks and making drawings of what he saw. The city that was to have the most influence on Marten van Heemskerck was [[Rome]]. He was very interested in the ruins left from the time of the [[Ancient Rome|Ancient Romans]]. He made many drawings of the ruined buildings and other things that he saw. His sketchbooks, which are now in a museum in [[Berlin]] are very important evidence for showing what Rome was like in the 1500s. One important building that he drew was [[St. Peter's Basilica]] which had been begun, but never completed. However, a study published in 2024 argues that the drawings in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett are not by Heemskerck, bu