Biography

Dutch painter and draughtsman, active also in England. He is said to have been a pupil of Pieter de Grebber. In 1653 and 1655 he was living in Haarlem, and on 24 May 1655 he was on the point of leaving for Italy. Thereafter he lived mostly in Amsterdam (1661, 1665 and 1669); in between he also spent periods near The Hague (1663) and in Weesp (1667). On 26 June 1674 he was still in Holland. He then moved to England, where he lived in London as well as Oxford.

His work consists primarily of painted scenes of the Temptation of St Anthony, witchcraft, drinking bouts, satirical subjects and Quaker meetings, the latter theme (e.g. Hampton Court, Royal Collection) being his most original contribution, for which he established the iconography. Although of a lower quality, his work resembles that of Adriaen Brouwer (whose name often appears on van Heemskerck's unsigned drawings), David Teniers the Younger and Adriaen van Ostade. A painting of King Charles II surrounded by his favourite ladies-in-waiting (untraced) is said almost to have cost van Heemskerck his head. One of King Charles's most licentious courtiers, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1645-80), is thought to have been the artist's patron. Van Heemskerck apparently left behind a son of the same name, who was also a painter but later became an actor. Attempts to distinguish the work of father and son have not yet been successful.