The Haarlem Lock, Amsterdam

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Hobbema was a specialist landscape painter – this is his only known city view, a depiction of the ordered and harmonious relationship between people and water. We are looking towards the Haarlem Lock at the point where two of Amsterdam’s most important waterways meet – the Singel on the right and the Brouwersgracht in the immediate foreground. Hobbema seems to have chosen this view to focus the viewer’s mind on the connection between this carefully regulated system of canals and the wider world. Beyond the lock and the lock-keeper, who is controlling the water with a long lever, are the clustered masts of a dozen or so square-riggers, part of the huge Dutch merchant fleet which had mastered the high seas for Holland. To the right is one of the look-out towers which were part of the town’s fortifications from the fifteenth century.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Haarlem Lock, Amsterdam

Date

about 1663-5

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 77 x W 98 cm

Accession number

NG6138

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Miss Beatrice Mildmay, 1953

Work type

Painting

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