# Bust of Piet Hein

- By: Hendrick de Keyser (II) (Amsterdam, 1613–1665)
- Date: 1636
- Medium: terracotta (clay material)
- Classification: figure
- Dimensions: height 79 cm x width 41 cm x depth 36 cm
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/BK-NM-2865--29775af88c142a891126ac3c5556251d)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/UqgFE/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Piet Hein fought in the Netherlands, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, Africa, and America as a seaman. But he only becomes truly famous when he captures the Spanish Silver Fleet off the coast of Cuba in September 1628. For the Spanish the loss of that fleet is a financial catastrophe and for the Dutch Republic, quite the opposite, a tremendous triumph. Hein becomes enormously popular among the Dutch and is honoured everywhere. Just a year later, Hein dies in a skirmish with privateers from Ostend in the English Channel.