The ‘Golden Bend’ in the Herengracht, Amsterdam, Seen from the West
Also titled De Gouden Bocht in de Herengracht in Amsterdam vanuit het westen
Gerrit Berckheyde (Haarlem, 1638–1698)
1672
- Medium
- panel, oil paint (paint)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- height 40.5 cm x width 63 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- Purchased with the support of the Ministerie van CRM and the Rijksmuseum-Stichting
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
About this work
The cityscape developed into an independent genre only after 1650, with Berckheyde as one of its leading exponents. In this painting he recorded with mathematical precision the newly built houses along the ‘Golden Bend’, the most expensive stretch of Amsterdam’s Herengracht. Through the omission of the row of young trees that lined the quay of the canal in reality, the topographical accuracy of the scene is complemented by a bit of artistic license.
