Drama and Devotion

This title offers a fascinating look at the efforts of the J. Paul Getty Museum to preserve and expose a stunning 16th century triptych. Maerten van Heemskerck (1498-1574) was one of the most active and inventive Dutch painters of the 16th century. Over the course of his long career, he created lively mythological scenes, dramatic altarpieces for guilds, and smaller works for wealthy individuals. Regrettably though, several of his religious paintings were destroyed by Protestant iconoclasts in 1566. One of his extant masterpieces, the "Ecce Homo" triptych of 1544, was brought from the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland, for treatment and study at the J. Paul Getty Museum as part of the Conservation Partnership program. Richly illustrated, this book documents the dramatic process of revealing the brilliance of a 16th-century masterpiece.