Count Willem III Presides over the Execution of the Dishonest Bailiff in 1336

historical

In 1657, the Hanseatic town of Hasselt in the north of the province of Overijssel acquired a larger than life painting which still occupies its original place in Hasselt's late Gothic Town Hall. The scene it depicts is set indoors, but light pours in from the left, creating a number of vivid still-lifes. The represented scene is the last moment before the execution of a man.

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Count Willem III Presides over the Execution of the Dishonest Bailiff in 1336

About the Artist

Nicolaes van Galen

A picture in the Hasselt Town Hall bears the signature and date 'N. van Galen F.A.1657'. The painter is generally thought to have been Nicolaes van Galen, who is first recorded in Hasselt in 1647. He was the son of Juriaen van Galen and Rijkien van Ittersum, a woman of noble birth. In 1652, Nicolaes van Galen was in Kampen, where he had contact with the Amsterdam art dealer Jacob Ritsma. In 1676, he was the director of the hospital in Hasselt and in 1683 director of the municipal credit bank. It has been speculated that he was a member of the Hasselt patriciate and that he painted purely for his own pleasure.

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