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Lot Essay
The view depicts on the left the mediaeval tower, called the Svijch Utrecht, which housed the Kloveniers Schutterij, civic guards. In the 1630s they built a new guard-house adjacent to it (on the left) and commissioned seven group portraits to adorn the hall. The most famous of these is, of course, Rembrandt's Night Watch, which was still in the building when this picture was painted. Rembrandt lived for a short time on the same street.
The Waag tower is depicted beyond, at the end of the Kloveniersburgwal canal. Built in 1488 as a gateway to the city, the tower was transformed in 1617 into a weighing station for goods which entered the city. The bell tower of the Zuiderkerk, by the renowned Amsterdam architect Hendrick de Keyser, is visible on the right beyond the gable of one of the two houses in which Jan van Lennep lived. This silk merchant possessed a considerable collection of pictures, several of which he had acquired in the sale of the pictures formerly owned by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in Amsterdam, 26 September 1684.
The Waag tower is depicted beyond, at the end of the Kloveniersburgwal canal. Built in 1488 as a gateway to the city, the tower was transformed in 1617 into a weighing station for goods which entered the city. The bell tower of the Zuiderkerk, by the renowned Amsterdam architect Hendrick de Keyser, is visible on the right beyond the gable of one of the two houses in which Jan van Lennep lived. This silk merchant possessed a considerable collection of pictures, several of which he had acquired in the sale of the pictures formerly owned by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in Amsterdam, 26 September 1684.