Bartholomeus van der Helst

Van der Helst quickly made a name for himself as a young specialist in portrait painting and started winning major commissions. No one could ignore Van der Helst’s talent once he had painted his militia group portraits in the early 1640s – his Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Münster was long regarded as an equal to Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. In addition to a few group portraits of regents, Van der Helst painted double portraits of married couples and individual portraits of wealthy Amsterdammers. He depicted them striking elegant poses and exuding self-confidence, and this approach met with great success. Van der Helst remained their preferred portraitist until his death in 1670.