View of Oudezijds Voorburgwal with the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam

Oudezijds Voorburgwal, which links the river Amstel in the south to the IJ in the north, is the oldest but one city canal in Amsterdam. Jan van der Heyden chose to paint one of the most notable areas, the section near Bierkaai and the Oude Kerk. Bierkaai was where barrels of beer were unloaded from ships - foreign beer in this case, most of which was imported from Hamburg. The dominant Oude Kerk, the oldest Gothic hall church in the northern Netherlands, was built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1658 and 1659 the carillon, which is highly visible in the painting, was completely renewed.

Although this city scene was painted from life, Van der Heyden took a few liberties. In reality the bell tower is higher and thinner and the canal is a little narrower. The meticulous detail, in which we can make out the separate bricks in the façades, is characteristic of his style of painting. The numerous little figures that enliven the city scene were probably painted by Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672), whose services Van der Heyden usually hired for this purpose.

City scenes and landscapes with country houses were Jan van der Heyden’s speciality. Aside from his activities as a painter, he was also an active inventor. In 1668 he devised an ingenious plan for Amsterdam’s street lighting, which would remain in use until 1840. In 1672 he designed a fire engine with hoses, on which production started in 1681.

(this is a reworked version of a text published in in: P. van der Ploeg, Q. Buvelot, Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis: A princely collection, The Hague 2005)