Amsterdam, Singel – Jan Schenk after Abraham Rademaker, c. 1730
€4.250
THE SINGEL FROM THE CUPOLA CHURCH TO THE JAN ROODENPOORT TOWER
“Gesicht van de Cingel, verby de Kerk van die van de Ausburgische Confessie, naar Jan Roonpoorts Toren tot Amsterdam” [View of the Singel, past the Church of those of the Augsburg Confession, towards the Jan Roodenpoort Tower in Amsterdam]. Copper engraving on two sheets by Jan Schenk after a design by Abraham Rademaker, published by Leonard Schenk, ca. 1730. Size (printed area): 56 × 96.5 cm.
From the Haarlemmersluis we look southwards along the Singel. In the left foreground are the houses of the Stromarkt, where barges carrying straw traditionally moored and straw was sold directly from the vessels. Behind them rises the Ronde Lutherse Kerk (Round Lutheran Church), built between 1668 and 1671 in the so-called austere style to a design by Adriaan Dortsman. As the Lutherans were not permitted to build a church tower, Dortsman instead crowned the building with its monumental dome and lantern. The print still shows the original seventeenth-century dome, which was destroyed by fire in 1822 and subsequently rebuilt.
In the distance, on the Torensluis at the Torensteeg, stands the Jan Roodenpoort Tower. The structure originated as a medieval defensive tower, but around 1617 Hendrick de Keyser gave it its distinctive tall upper section. It was demolished in 1829 because of its dilapidated condition. In the right foreground, the Brouwersgracht flows into the Singel.
The waterway is bustling with activity. In the rowing boat on the left, a man raising a jug is supported by his wife, who appears to be laughing. Beurtvaart vessels providing regular passenger and freight services lie moored at the quay, with supply barges alongside them. Rowing boats carry passengers, merchants with their wares and elegantly dressed figures, some perhaps on their way to the richly decorated States yacht moored on the even-numbered side of the Singel.
High above the cityscape, putti support the title banner. On the left they display Amsterdam’s old city seal with a ship, for centuries a symbol of the city’s maritime trade; on the right is the city’s coat of arms with its three St Andrew’s crosses.
This print comes from a series of 25 rare and impressive large views of Amsterdam and provides a colourful picture of urban life and commerce at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is significant not only as a record of Amsterdam’s cityscape and architecture, but also for its lively staffage, which offers a vivid impression of contemporary customs and everyday life.
Price: Euro 4.250,-
