BERCKHEYDE, Gerrit Adriaensz.
(b. 1638, Haarlem, d. 1698, Haarlem)

View of the Dam Square, Amsterdam

1670s
Oil on canvas, 45 x 60 cm
Private collection

This view shows the Dam Square in Amsterdam in the late afternoon looking north, with the Town Hall on the left, the Nieuwe Kerk beyond it, and the Waag to the right.

Berckheyde painted the Dam Square in Amsterdam in a number of works from 1665 onwards. The most familiar are his views of the Town Hall looking west. These are almost portraits of the building, but often include part of the Nieuwe Kerk to the right. Almost as popular are views looking north-west, such as the present picture.

The new Town Hall, later the Royal Palace, still dominates Dam Square, and was an enormous source of civic pride when completed in 1665, to the designs of Jacob van Campen. The Waag or Weigh-House was built in 1565 to replace another smaller medieval structure, and was the first building in Amsterdam to be decorated in the Renaissance style. It stood near the middle of Dam Square until demolished by the French in 1808. The oldest of the three principal buildings depicted here is the late Gothic Nieuwe Kerk, closing off the square to the north-west.