His cousin made similar landscapes and they probably worked in the same workshop. According to Hessel Miedema's notes on the Alkmaar van der Heck family in his translation of Karel van Mander's Schilder-boeck, "Jacques van der Heck" (or Jacob Dircksz) was a son of Maarten van Heemskerck's sister Neeltje and her husband Dirk van der Heck. Jacques' son "Niclaes" was Claes Jacobsz van der Heck. Heemskerck had disinherited "another nephew" (presumably a Dirk Dirksz, the later father of Claes Dircksz van der Heck), and left a portion in his will to Jacob Dircksz.[2]