View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam

landscape

A prolific Dutch specialist of the newly developed theme of townscape, van der Heyden was in his day better known as an inventor: he organised municipal street lighting in Amsterdam and patented the first fire engine equipped with pumpdriven hoses. With seemingly endless patience and a talent for technical drawing, he painted architectural vistas, real and imaginary, in the greatest and most minute detail. In this picture, for example, one can read some of the tattered posters on the wooden hoardings protecting the young trees in the foreground; one of them advertises a sale of paintings.

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About the Artist

Jan van der Heyden

1637 – 1712

Dutch painter, active in Amsterdam. He painted some landscapes and still-lifes, but is celebrated as one of the greatest of all townscape painters. His views of towns are done with loving attention to detail, but the harmonious colours and sunny light of his elegantly composed pictures prevent the precise way he rendered foliage, bricks, and architectural detail from appearing dull or dry. In spite of the seemingly objective nature of his work, van der Heyden often took liberties with topographical accuracy and he also painted 'capricci'. Painting was only a part of his activity. for he was also involved in civic administration in Amsterdam. The fire hose is said to have been his invention and it is included in his Brandspuiten-boek ('Fire Engine Book'), a volume about fire-fighting equipment, illustrated with his own engravings, that he published in 1690.

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