Background
Gijsbert Claesz van Campen was born in Leiden as the son of a merchant from Amsterdam, but moved to Haarlem, where he became a cloth merchant and dean of the Merchant"s guild there in 1614.
Gijsbert Claesz van Campen was born in Leiden as the son of a merchant from Amsterdam, but moved to Haarlem, where he became a cloth merchant and dean of the Merchant"s guild there in 1614.
The sitters in this painting have been identified by Pieter Biesboer as the family of Ghijsbert Claesz. van Campen and is today split into two parts. The left half is in the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, with an extra baby lower left added by Salomon de Bray in 1628, and the right half is in the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. That is the location today of the main hall of the Hofje In den Groenen Tuin, which was completely rebuilt in the 19th century, but which is a very large house in the Warmoestraat (formerly known as the Kerkstraat).
On 11 September 1625 he was the only witness for the second marriage of Floris van Dyck to Cornelia Jansdr.
Vlasman. In the painting, Gijsbert Claesz. The painting was probably commissioned in 1624 on the occasion of their 20th wedding anniversary.
The eldest son Pieter is standing behind his father in the painting. The family was Catholic and Gijsbert"s son Cornelis became a Haarlem notary who mostly dealt with other Haarlem Catholics.
The painting was later inherited by Cornelis" daughter Agnes, who died in 1666.
lieutenant was sometime after her death and before 1680 that the painting was cut into two, probably because the painting left the house and the walls of the new location were too small. The painting is the earliest known family portrait by Hals and is remarkable for its informal outside "picnic style", which became quite popular. At the time it was painted, Hals was at the peak of his fame and had already made a successful group portrait with 12 persons, The Banquet of the Officers of the Street George Militia Company in 1616.