Members of the civic guard company of Captain Dirck Tholinx and Lieutenant Pieter Adriaenszn Raep

The work was commissioned by the civic guard company of Captain Dirck Tholinx and Lieutenant Pieter Adriaenszn Raep in 1639. It was created by Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy as an oil painting on canvas, intended to depict the schutterij, or militia company portrait genre. The painting remained in Amsterdam, where it entered the collection of the Amsterdam Museum.

It is now part of the Rijksmuseum’s holdings, continuing its presence in the city where it was originally commissioned.

The painting is held by the Amsterdam Museum, as indicated by its listed location in Amsterdam. According to the available records, the work is also part of the Rijksmuseum's collection. The canvas measures 202 cm in height by 340.5 cm in width.

Pickenoy completed the civic guard portrait in 1639, and no specific inventory number, accession identifier, or exhibition history is documented in the provided sources.

The painting's status across both institutions suggests a possible loan or shared arrangement between the Amsterdam Museum and the Rijksmuseum, though the sources do not specify the terms of any such arrangement.

Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy’s 1639 oil painting records a civic guard company led by Captain Dirck Tholinx and Lieutenant Pieter Adriaenszn Raep. Executed during the Dutch Golden Age, the work presents a group portrait of militia members in formal attire, rendered in a dim interior that emphasizes texture and material.

Group portraits of civic guards were a popular genre in the Netherlands, serving both commemorative and propagandistic functions. Such works often displayed the hierarchy of the company, with the captain and lieutenant centrally positioned, reflecting the social order of the period.