Dutch painter

Rotterdam? circa 1610/15 – 1664/84 Haarlem or Rotterdam (old sources mention 1702 as the date of his decease)

                                       

Beelt worked the major part of his life in Haarlem. He entered the local Painter’s Guild of Saint Luke only in 1661.

 

He was a very versatile painter, although he was first and foremost a very good figure painter. He painted :

 

- landscapes, especially beach scenes with fishermen selling their catch or a crowd gathered around a stranded whale or cachelot. He also painted a few maritime subjects and very beautiful winter scenes.

 

- townscapes and markets;

 

- interiors scenes, representing either workshops of weavers and smiths influenced by Cornelis Decker, or peasant interiors under the influence of Adriaen van Ostade. 

 

Beelt seems to have made a habit of regularly painting several different versions of important historic events. It is not known if he painted these variations on these same themes on command or if he was simply tempted by the fact that there would be enough potential clients if he was to present them onto the free market. 

 

- We know of three versions of the annunciation of a peace treaty in the “Grote Markt” of Haarlem : 

  - a painting in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (considered there to be the Peace of Munster of 1648). 

  - a painting in the Hermitage Saint Petersburg (called there the Treaty of Breda of 1667).

  - a painting which we sold February 2005.

 

- several versions of the final sea battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War, of 1653. The decisive battle was fought just off the beach of Scheveningen and watched by spectators from that same beach :

       - a painting sold at Christie’s London, 7/07/08.

       - a painting which we sold May 2008.