Art, literature & history
Abigail
c. 1560
- Dating
- Approximate date range
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper, incised with stylus for transfer
- Dimensions
- 19.7 × 25.2 cm (7 13/16 × 9 15/16 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1961.33
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Maarten van Heemskerck. Abigail. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
Abigail — Maarten van Heemskerck. c. 1560.
Medium: Pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper, incised with stylus for transfer. Dimensions: 19.7 × 25.2 cm (7 13/16 × 9 15/16 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
Maarten van Heemskerck, a prolific draftsman and etcher and the leading proponent of the Mannerist School in Haarlem, spent a decisive period in Rome from 1532 to 1536. This drawing shows the influence of Michelangelo's heroic forms. Pricked for transfer to a metal plate, it is one of six designs he made for an engraved series of Good Women of the Old Testament.
Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.