Amsterdam City View with Houses on the Herengracht and the old Haarlemmersluis

Jan van der Heyden
c. 1667–1670
Oil on panel, 44 x 57.5 cm.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
De Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal met de Oude Haarlemmersluis te Amsterdam, Jan van der Heyden

Jan Janz van HEYDEN
Gorinchem 1637-Amsterdam 1712

Jan van der Heyden was born at Gorinchem in 1637, van der Heyden had moved with his family to Amsterdam by 1650. He was said to have been the pupil of a glass-painter. His preferred subject was architecture or townscape and many of his works were topographical, but he was also capable of architectural fantasies. As can be seen from his works, although he lived in Amsterdam all his life, he travelled in the southern Netherlands and Germany. In addition to painting, he organized Amsterdam's street-lighting and fire-fighting in Amsterdam. He died in Amsterdam on 28 March
1712.

from:
The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, John Nash, London, 1972