Diederik van Durven (1729-1730)

Executed by an unidentified artist working locally in Batavia, the painting employs a thin, flat application of pigment without pronounced brushwork or chiaroscuro. The limited modelling and lack of deep shadows give the image a restrained, almost documentary quality, typical of many 18th‑century VOC portraits produced far from European workshops.

Created during the early 18th century, the portrait remained in the Castle of Batavia’s assembly hall, where it was displayed alongside other governors‑general. Over time, the work entered the collection of the Rijksmuseum, which now preserves it as part of its holdings on Dutch colonial history.

The portrait belongs to a broader corpus of VOC portraits painted in Asia, often by anonymous artists who adapted European conventions to local materials and conditions. These works illustrate how colonial institutions imported European visual culture while relying on regional artistic resources to maintain their representational practices.