Artwork
Portrait of Andries Bicker
Portrait of Andries Bicker is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Bartholomeus van der Helst. It dates from 1642 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Van der Helst also portrayed the couple's son Gerard, whose portrait was acquired by the Rijksmuseum together with this one in 1848.
The painting depicts Andries Bicker (1586–1652), a merchant and burgemeester (mayor) of Amsterdam. It is the only known portrait of him, and it functions as the pendant to a companion portrait of his wife Trijn Jansdr. Tengnagel, which now hangs in Dresden.
Van der Helst also portrayed the couple's son Gerard, whose portrait was acquired by the Rijksmuseum together with this one in 1848.
Bicker is shown half-length to the hips, a format described as unusual for Amsterdam portraiture at the time. Depth is constructed by accentuating his left elbow in lighter grey tones, by projecting the small book he holds forward, and by using a brown background that is lighter on the right. His hair, collar, and face are rendered with precise detail, while the cloak and hands are handled more painterly. Painted in generally sober colors, the work is signed and dated upper left: B. vanderhelst 1642.
The book prop introduces a note of color into the otherwise restrained palette and signals the sitter's literacy and standing as a learned burgher of the Dutch Republic.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting executed on wood panel, a format noted for its smooth surface and capacity for fine detail. Van der Helst renders the sitter from the waist up, a pose uncommon in Amsterdam portraiture of the 1640s, and uses heightened modeling of the left elbow and the forward thrust of a booklet to create depth. Light, cooler tones are applied to the elbow and booklet, while the face, collar and hands receive meticulous naturalistic rendering; the mantle and hands are treated more loosely, and the foliage of the booklet varies in hue from the surrounding palette.
The painting bears the artist’s signature and date in the upper left corner, and it remains in the Rijksmuseum collection, hall 2.18.
History & Provenance
The portrait of Andries Bicker was painted by Bartholomeus van der Helst in 1642, signed and dated "B. vanderhelst 1642" in the upper left. It was executed in oil on panel as a pendant to a portrait of Bicker's wife, Trijn Jansdr. Tengnagel, which later passed to a collection in Dresden, and forms part of a series that also included a likeness of the couple's son Gerard.
In October 1848 the portraits of Andries Bicker and his son were offered together at auction and purchased by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where they have remained in the collection since that year. Wikidata records an earlier owner, Aegidius Laurens Tolling, prior to the museum's acquisition. The painting is the only known portrait of Andries Bicker, who served as a merchant and burgomaster of Amsterdam.
The Portrait of Andries Bicker has been part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam since 1848. The museum acquired the work, along with a portrait of Bicker's son Gerard, during an auction held in October of that year. While the pendant portrait of Bicker's wife, Trijn Jansdr.
Tengnagel, was also offered at the same sale, it was purchased by an art dealer rather than the museum.
Currently, the painting is displayed in hall 2.18 of the Rijksmuseum. It remains the only known portrait of Andries Bicker.
Context
Bartholomeus van der Helst’s 1642 oil-on-panel portrait of Amsterdam merchant and mayor Andries Bicker exemplifies Dutch Golden Age portraiture through its restrained palette and precise rendering of facial features against a subdued background, while the heightened modeling of the left elbow and forward placement of the open book introduce a nuanced spatial depth. The work functions as a pendant to van der Helst’s portrait of Bicker’s wife Trijn Jansdr. Tengnagel, originally intended for display in Dresden, and entered the Rijksmuseum’s collection in 1848 alongside a companion portrait of their son Gerard.
Contemporary scholarship notes the painting’s singular status as the only known portrait of Bicker and highlights van der Helst’s technical choices, such as differentiated brushwork on the collar and hands versus the detailed depiction of the face and book, reflecting both regional portrait conventions and the artist’s broader stylistic development within mid-17th-century Amsterdam.
Overview
Bartholomeus van der Helst painted the portrait of Amsterdam merchant Andries Bicker in 1642 with oil on canvas. Executed during the height of the Dutch Golden Age, the work exemplifies the period’s focus on realistic, dignified representation of civic leaders. It now belongs to the permanent collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
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Artist
Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – buried 16 December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of…
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