 |
| Maarten van Heemskerck Statue Court of the Belvedere at the Vatican ca. 1532-33 drawing British Museum |
The most famous antique sculpture collection in Rome in the early 1500s was in the Belvedere Courtyard at the Vatican. In Maarten van Heemskerck's drawing above, the colossal reclining statues of the Tiber and the Nile face each other on matching pedestals, while the Laocoön is discernible in the distance, within a niche. One of several similar statue courts in Roman private houses can be seen below in an engraving based on a drawing also from the 1530s.
 |
| Dirk Coornhert after Maarten van Heemskerck Statue Court of the Casa Sassi, Rome 1553 engraving British Museum |
"The collection belonged to Egidio and Fabio Sassi, and their house was in the modern via del Governo Vecchio. Heemskerck would have made his drawing when in Rome 1532-36. The collection was sold to Ottavio Farnese in 1546, and most of it is now in the museum in Naples." – from British Museum curator's notes
 |
| Maarten van Heemskerck Studies after Antique Statues in the Sassi Collection 1530s drawing British Museum |
 |
| Maarten van Heemskerck Studies after Antique Statues in the Sassi Collection 1530s drawing British Museum |
 |
| Jan de Bisschop after Maarten van Heemskerck Seven Draped Antique Female Statues ca. 1672-89 etching British Museum |
Curators point out that the seven statues joined together on one sheet by Bisschop in the late 17th century (above) were copied from seven individual drawings of the 1530s made in Rome by Maarten van Heemskerck. A long and complex pedigree for each of the seven statues in the Heemskerck drawings is part of the curatorial record. It shows that more restoration came later in almost all cases, and the statues themselves no longer resemble Heemskerck's drawings or Bisschop's subsidiary engraving.
 |
| Maarten van Heemskerck Antique Caryatid of a Satyr from the della Valle Collection, Rome ca. 1532-34 drawing Bibliothèque nationale, Paris |
 |
| Cornelis Bos after Maarten van Heemskerck Michelangelo's Statue of Bacchus ca. 1532-56 engraving British Museum |
 |
| Wenceslaus Hollar portrait-bust of artist Maarten van Heemskerck ca. 1627 etching British Museum |
The following drawings, all from the British Museum, are anonymous. All depict antique sculpture and were made in the same Rome that was contemporary with the deeply influential Maarten van Heemskerck. But their makers are unlikely to find specific identities anytime soon.
 |
| Anonymous artist Antique Torso 16th century drawing British Museum |
 |
| Anonymous artist Female Herm and Sculpted Angel ca. 1550 drawing British Museum |
 |
| Anonymous artist Antique Draped Female Statue 16th century drawing British Museum owned in the 17th century by Sir Peter Lely |
 |
| Anonymous artist Reclining Statue of the Nile ca. 1550-1600 drawing British Museum |
 |
| Anonymous artist Three Antique Statues ca. 1550-1600 drawing British Museum |
 |
| Anonymous artist Three Antique Statues ca. 1550-1600 drawing British Museum |
 |
| after Giulio Romano Six Caryatid-Statues 16th century drawing British Museum |