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Views of Amersfoort were made either looking at the city from the northwest or from the south. The presence of the Amersfoortse Berg [Amersfoort Hill] to the south of the city explains the popularity of that angle, since it provided artists with a natural elevation and afforded a striking panorama. Adam Frans van der Meulen, for instance, drew Amersfoort from the Berg in 1672. However, the oldest known view of the city — the print in Braun and Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum (1588), shown in this reproduction — is from the northwest, along the Eem. This angle must have been more difficult than the southern one since there are no high elevations on that side. That a tradition of views from this angle ever developed can perhaps be attributed to the Eem's economic importance to the city.
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