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Description: | Signed: yes Description: Jan Jansz van der Heyden was born in Gorinchem in 1637. He probably first trained as a glass painter. He settled in Amsterdam by 1650 where he principally worked. He specialised mainly in townscapes of Amsterdam but was also a landscape and still life painter. His later works concentrated more on the depiction of landscape as in this work. The precise handling of every minute detail is characteristic of the artist's work. His depiction of bricks is truly masterly, recording each and every single brick but whilst retaining the unity of the whole. The figures by van de Velde had previously been attributed to Eglon van der Neer. The painting is of a house constructed in 1645-52 in a wood, the Haagse Bos, just outside of the Hague, for Amalia van Solms, the widow of the Stadholder Prince Frederick Hendrick as a summer residence. The building was designed by Pieter Post. Amalia van Solms commissioned a number of artists including Jacob Jordaens and Caesar van Everdingen to decorate the building with stories taken from Dutch history. Today, the building serves as the private residence of the Dutch Royal Family. This view is of the main facade of the house. The house featured in at least five other works by the artist, including a work in the National Gallery, London (NG1914) but the others are taken from different angles to this. The work is likely to have been painted in the late 1660s or early 1670s. As well as a painter, he was also an inventor, business man and city official. In 1668 he developed a plan to provide the city with street lamps and the following year this scheme was adopted by the city. With his brother, he invented an improved fire machine which replaced the bucket brigades used previously in the city. | Subjects: | figure; landscape; place (Haagse Bos); buildings and gardens | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Heyden, Jan van der (Dutch painter, 1637-1712) Æ Attributed to Velde, Adriaen van de (Dutch painter, 1636-1672) Previously attributed to Neer, Eglon Hendrik van der (Dutch painter, 1634-1703) | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8864... | Go to resource |
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