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Historical Artist - Dirck Helmbreker (1633 - 1696)
Dirk Helmbreker studied painting with Pieter de Grebber before joining Haarlem’s Guild of
Saint Luke in 1652. He later traveled throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Italy before settling
in Rome in 1659. He joined the Northern European art group called the Bentvueghels, meaning
‘birds of a feather.” In 1678, he worked in Paris with Frederick Moucheron and
returned to Italy three years later to work in Turin, Florence, and Rome. Helmbreker’s
paintings were popular and sold for large amounts of money. He painted light-hearted themes,
religious scenes, and landscapes that often incorporated ancient ruins. His paintings belong to
the group of artists known as the Bamboccianti, and, like other northern artists working in this
style, he specialised in small-scale genre scenes in the manner of Pieter van Laer. His genre
scenes, which were among the last generation of the Bamboccianti, tended to be more classical in
inspiration than many their earlier low-life scenes. Ultimately, these works found great success
with Italian collectors. In 1695 he was commissioned to paint the the main altar piece of the
Church of St. Julian of the Flemings in Rome.
Contemporary Dutch Artists
Art Galleries in the Netherlands
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