
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
In yesterday’s post during a visit to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum I discovered a painting that took my breath away.
The artist is Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670), a Dutch painter born in Haarlem, and the painting is:
Painting: “Officers and Other Members of the Militia Company of District VIII under the Command of Captain Roelof Bicker and Lieutenant Jan Michielsz”
He must have known about the work of Frans Hals, also from Haarlem and who also specialised in portraiture and after moving to Amsterdam he must have also been acquainted with Rembrandt van Rijn.
Van der Helst soon became the most popular painter of portraits in that city, his flattering portrayals in the style of Anthony van Dyck being more immediately appealing than Rembrandt’s dark and introspective later work.
Some of Rembrandt’s pupils, including Ferdinand Bol and Govaert Flinck, adopted Van Helst’s style instead of their master’s.
Van der Helst taught his son Lodewijk van der Helst who followed his style.
On 25 June 2006, Hans-Joachim Bohlmann, who had already caused an estimated 130 million Euros damage in similar attacks in Germany, intentionally damaged the painting by spraying lighter fuel on its surface and lighting it. The damage was mostly to the varnish layer, some parts of the original paint and cloth were also afflicted as well as the frame.
From the Dome.Mit website (link at bottom of this post) I find out that:
The enormous civic guard portraits that he painted in the early 1640s reveal Van der Helst’s talent for composing large groups of figures and for portraying subjects in confident poses.
For many years, connoisseurs placed Van der Helst’s “Celebration of the Peace of Munster” on a par with Rembrandt’s “Night Watch”. Van der Helst remained the leading portrait painter of Amsterdam’s patrician class until his death in 1670.
The names of 25 of the company members portrayed here, in front of the de Haan brewery, are on the frame. The painting was commissioned to hang in the Kloveniersdoelen (Arquebusiers’ or Musketeers’ Hall) in Amsterdam; Van der Helst may not have completed this commission until 1642 or 1643.
The schutterij, civic guard, or town watch, was a defensive military support system for the local civic authority. Its officers were wealthy citizens of the town, appointed by the city magistrates.
In yesterday’s post I focused on the painting as a whole, today I take you for a look into some of the stunning detail. As regular readers know, this kind of detail is deeply pleasing to any detail fanatic… and that my friends is what I am, and why this painting has sailed to the very top of my favourite painting list.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Bartholomeus van der Helst (Dutch painter, 1613-1670)