Portret van Daniël van Heil 1614 - 1676

This engraving of Daniël van Heil was created by Frederik Bouttats sometime in the 17th century. Van Heil, who was from Brussels, gained notoriety for his landscapes and paintings of burning buildings and cities. Here, Bouttats captures van Heil as a man of apparent means, from his elaborate collar to his curled hair. But what does it mean to be an artist known for portraying destruction? Perhaps he was memorializing the great fires that swept through European cities at this time. Or was he drawn to the spectacle of disaster? Van Heil’s work allows us to consider how artists respond to trauma and upheaval, and how these events shape collective memory. Consider the power and privilege inherent in van Heil’s position as an artist who had the ability to represent such scenes, while others were left to suffer from these realities. What does it mean to aestheticize suffering? This image invites us to reflect on the complex relationship between art, disaster, and social responsibility.