The Amsterdam Exchange

The expansion of Amsterdam's trade in the mid-17th century allowed the city to develop its extant banking system and commodity exchange services to the highest level of volume and sophistication in Europe. In its Exchange, merchants and brokers from all over the world traded goods, currency, rumours - and an unprecedented volume of stocks. Contemporary reports sketch the bustle in the new Exchange building designed by Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621), the most respected architect and sculptor of his generation. In the seventeenth century the Exchange was extended, the new features of the building were designed by Daniel Stalpaert (1615-1676).

The present painting is one of five that Job Berckheyde executed in 1670, just after its expansion in 1668, of the Amsterdam Exchange. It exemplifies the mathematical precision characteristic of his small repertoire of architectural paintings. The last artist to depict the Exchange was Emmanuel de Witte in 1653 whose rendition lacks a vanishing point and correctly aligned orthogonals, in contrast to Berckheyde's meticulous adherence to the rules of perspective.