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Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670)
The Amsterdam merchant Daniel Bernard (1626-1714). Signed and dated Bartholomew vander helst. 1669. One of the letters on the table is addressed to M. Neufville and signed by A. Bernard, another to Pauwels Sloot, signed by D. Bernard and dated June 8, 1669. The books on the shelf are marked Venditie... (Sales) and Factuurboeck van incomend... beginnende 12 December (Invoices received). Canvas, 124 × 113 cm.

Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, inv.nr. 1297. Purchased in 1865 at sale Baron van Brienen van de Groot Lindt, Paris, May 8, 1865, for 500 guilders. The sitter was not an ancestor of the Baron, who was from a family of wealthy Catholic merchants. A painting of this description was sold at auction in Amsterdam on 26 July 1775 for one hundred guilders to the art dealer Yver.

In 1669, the forty-three year old Daniel Bernard was a partner in a firm still run by his father and uncle, trading with Russia, Spain, Italy and the Middle East. The main asset of the house was a charter from the Tsar, acquired with the help of Stadholder Frederik Hendrik in 1628. Daniel was to continue running it, at great profit, for the rest of his life. In the years after this portrait was painted, he occupied various positions in the town government and its trading companies, rising to the dignity of alderman in 1681.

The tower in the background most closely resembles the Jan Roodenpoorttoren on the Singel, not far from Bernard's house on the Keizersgracht near the Leliegracht.

De Gelder 1921, cat.nr. 50.