The ‘Golden Bend’ in the Herengracht, Amsterdam, Seen from the West

Gerrit Berckheyde

1672

oil on panel

Rijksmuseum

A canal-side street scene in a European city features brick buildings with ornate facades and a waterway with boats. Figures are visible on the street and in the boats. The cityscape developed into an independent genre only after 1650, with Berckheyde as one of its leading exponents. In this painting he recorded with mathematical precision the newly built houses along the ‘Golden Bend’, the most expensive stretch of Amsterdam’s Herengracht. Through the omission of the row of young trees that lined the quay of the canal in reality, the topographical accuracy of the scene is complemented by a bit of artistic license.