Tibout Regters artwork • painting • previously for sale Merchant and banker Gijsbrecht Antwerpen Verbrugge van Freyhoff, his wife Maria Hooft, the bookkeeper and a black servant
Tibout Regters
Dordrecht 1710-1768 Amsterdam
Merchant and banker Gijsbrecht Antwerpen Verbrugge van Freyhoff, his wife Maria Hooft, the bookkeeper and a black servant
oil on canvas 68.0 x 82.7 cm, signed l.l. and dated 1750
This painting was previously for sale.
Tibout Regters' oeuvre mainly consists of group portraits of families. He specialized in these so-called conversation pieces, a new genre in the 18th century. His clients included wealthy Amsterdammers, often Mennonites. One of them was the merchant and banker Gijsbert Antwerpen Verbrugge (1717-1777). In 1750, Regters painted this refined portrait of Verbrugge, his wife Maria Hooft, his bookkeeper and a servant. When Regters painted this work, he was just starting to break through as a portraitist. Characteristic of his early group portraits is the regular way in which the figures are distributed over the picture plane and grouped around the table. The background is quite austere and the view through the window is limited. The floor mats with decorative block patterns, which were very popular as floor coverings in the 17th and 18th centuries, are a striking detail for this reason.