The Musician

Bartholomeus van der Helst was Amsterdam’s most sought-after portraitist in the 1640s and 1650s, the painter whose civic-guard banquet of 1648 was hailed by Rembrandt’s biographer as the finest picture in the city. The Musician, painted in 1662 near the end of his career, shows the polished elegance that made him the favourite of Amsterdam’s wealthiest families, who chose his silvery light and flattering likenesses over Rembrandt’s searching realism. His work marks the bridge between the heroic group portrait of the Dutch Golden Age and the more refined, international manner that followed.