Lodewijk van der Helst was a Dutch Golden Age painter, born in Amsterdam in 1642 and baptized on February 2 of that same year. Son and pupil of Bartholomeus van der Helst, he was trained by his father, yet developed his own distinct artistic language and career.
He grew up in the Nieuwmarkt district. He married in 1677 and lived on the Herengracht, and in 1680 his son Lodewijk was baptized. He appears to have left the city by 1684, after his wife died and left two children behind. The place and exact date of his death are unknown, although he is usually placed around 1682.
Among his works is a portrait of the admiral Augustus Stellingwerf, later engraved by Abraham Blooteling. He is also associated with a portrait of Adriana Jacobusdr Hinlopen, wife of Johannes Wijbrants. Several of his paintings are held in museums, including three in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. His legacy is little known beyond studies of the Van der Helst family, though his career helps illuminate the circle of portrait painters in seventeenth-century Amsterdam.
Works (2)
Portrait of a woman painted by Lodewijk van der Helst in 1667 in oil on canvas. According to its title, the sitter is Adriana Jacobusdr Hinlopen, born in 1646 and wife of Johannes Wijbrants. The work is held in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The available information does not clarify the commission or the circumstances in which it was made.
Where to see the work
- Rijksmuseum Amsterdam · 2