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Herengracht, Amsterdam
Jan Wijnants (Dutch, 1635–1684)
c. 1661
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 87 x 101 x 9.2 cm (34 1/4 x 39 3/4 x 3 5/8 in.); Unframed: 67.2 x 81.6 cm (26 7/16 x 32 1/8 in.)
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of Harry D. Kendrick
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This painting is the first depiction of Amsterdam in which a canal is given prominence. Flanked by picturesque, tree-lined avenues and exquisite mansions, the Herengracht (Gentleman's Canal) was one of Amsterdam's most important waterways. The precision with which Jan Wijnants portrayed the topography of the city enables the viewer to witness the development of this location. To the left of the canal, Wijnants depicted a lumber yard, on which, in 1662, the architect Philip Vingoboons built four houses for the merchant Jacob Cromhout. Furthermore, soon after Wijanants completed this painting the canal was expanded.
