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Description: | This painting has traditionally received a general attribution of the Dutch School. However, the painter's distinctive treatment of the subject, lending particular attention to the description of the sitter's character and confident posture, suggest this work may be by the Amsterdam painter Bartolomeus van der Helst (1613-1670). The identity of the sitter remains unknown. However, it is evident from his self-possessed gaze and the black mantle with clean white collars that he was a wealthy member of the Dutch patrician class. The artist has shown him seated against a neutral ground of dark ochre, his head is turned three quarters to the left, and his broad shoulders fill the width of the canvas emphasising his imposing physical presence. In his right hand he holds a black hat. Bartolomeus van der Helst was born in Haarlem and moved with his family to Amsterdam around 1627. By the mid 1640s he had ousted Rembrandt as the leading portraitist in the Dutch capital. His clear, smooth technique, attention to character and elegant costume particularly appealed to his prosperous clientele. Van der Helst's reputation remained buoyant into the eighteenth century when Reynolds praised his work for ‘comprehending more of those qualities which make a perfect portrait, than any other I have seen'. | Subjects: | portrait | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Helst, Bartholomeus van der (Dutch painter, 1613-1670) Æ Attributed to | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8498... | Go to resource |
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