An Album with 59 (partly double-page) drawings and one watercolour on 106 pages, fourteen pages at the end blank; including 6 studies of plants, 31 of landscapes and farmhouses, 11 of churches and castles, including a watercolour of the ruin of Castle Brederode, a view of the ruins of Castle De Haar, studies of a nave of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, and of the Abbey of Saint Michiels Heere in Antwerp, one with a view of Antwerp, three of animals, figures and utensils, and two views of the remains of the Gunpowder Arsenal near Ouderkerk aan de Amstel after the explosion on 7 August 1782, in a contemporary board binding

This Amsterdam artist was a pupil of Pieter Barbiers I (1717-1780), as is confirmed by his inscription on the first page. In about 1782 Van Hardenberg is known to have travelled East to Münster in Germany. After marrying in 1784 and being employed by a bank, he became an amateur artist.
The present album, with its drawings of the Abbey of Saint Michielsheere in Antwerp and the view of that city, is the first indication that he also travelled to the southern Netherlands, while it further accounts for his travels throughout Holland. The views of the remains of the gunpowder arsenal at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel show Van Cranenburgh recording subjects of current interest, and dating these drawings to after the date of the blast in 1782. The gunpowder factory had been founded in 1718 and was closed only in 1991.
The inscription mentioning '..d'Hr. J: Janson te Leyden' that may indicate a provenance, probably refers to the artist Johannes Janson I (1729-1784) or his son Johannes Janson II (1763-1823), who have both lived in Leiden.