Amsterdam, circa 1675. Jacob van Ruisdael paints the Dam Square bustling with activity. Merchants negotiate, elegant ladies converse, commercial life thrives in the nerve center of the merchant city.
A Masterfully Orchestrated Urban Scene
Look at the Weigh House that dominates the composition. Its massive structure stands out in cold grey-blue. Amsterdam’s coat of arms gleams on its façade. Bales of merchandise await weighing on the great scale. To the right, the Damrak opens up: sailboats, gabled warehouses, crowded houses. The bell tower of the Oude Kerk rises toward a sky laden with luminous clouds. Ruisdael works with a precision that does not exclude freedom. The proportions are modified, the play of shadows reversed from his preparatory drawings.
A Poetic Portrait of the Golden Age
This urban view is not a simple topographical representation. Ruisdael elevates the scene to the rank of a poetic work of the spirit. He captures the atmosphere of Amsterdam at its commercial zenith, when the city dominated world trade. The figures, probably painted by a specialized collaborator, magnificently animate the architectural space. Every detail evokes 17th-century Dutch prosperity.
Jacob van Ruisdael
Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (1628-1682) left Haarlem for Amsterdam in 1657. He settled near the Dam, then on the square itself in 1670. A master landscape painter, he came to urban views late, applying to them the same atmospheric approach as to his famous natural landscapes.
Think about it
💭 How does this painting illustrate Ruisdael’s transition from naturalistic landscape to urban view orchestrated as a dramatic composition?
About This Work
- The Dam Square in Amsterdam
- Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael
- circa 1675
- Oil on canvas
- 54.2 × 66.3 cm
- Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- https://recherche.smb.museum/detail/868906/der-damplatz-zu-amsterdam
