Jan de Beijer (1703-1780)

A view on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam with moored boats and numerous figures

oil on panel, 29x45 cm

Exhibited:
-London, Royal Academy of Arts, 'Exhibition of works by the Old Masters [...], Winter Exhibition Twentieth year, MDCCCLXXXIX', January-March 1889, cat. no. 68, as: ‘Gerrit Berckheyde’ (in the collection of the Hon. W. and Mrs. Massey-Mainwaring).

Literature:
-Henk Romers, ‘Achttiende-eeuwse gezichten van steden, dorpen en huizen, naar het leven getekend door J. de Beijer, vol. IV, Amsterdam’, Alphen aan den Rijn 2000, ill. cat. no 930a, as: ’Bloemenmarkt t.o. Pijpenmarkt’.

Provenance:
-Collection W.F.B. Massey-Mainwaring, London, 1889.
-In the collection of the family of the present owner since at least the 1920's.

Please compare this lot to a watercolour by the artist with a similar composition, signed with monogram and dated 1759, in: Henk Romers, ‘J. de Beijer: oeuvre-catalogus’, The Hague 1969, cat. no. 930; and in: Romers 2000, ill. cat. no. 930.

The watercolour, formerly in the collection Atlas Dreesmann, is now in the collection of the Stadsarchief Amsterdam, inv. no. 010094000248. It is titled 'The Bloemmarkt, seen from the Weessluis towards the City Hall'.

On the right side we see the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal numbers 147 to circa 225 (from left to right), with at number 147 the City Hall (since 1808 the Royal Palace). On the left side the Bloemenmarkt is depicted. With the filling-in of the N.Z. Voorburgwal in 1884, not only did the Bloemmarkt, the Pijpenmarkt and other markets disappear, but all the bridges were demolished as well.

The present lot is accompanied by a (copy of) a signed letter by J.W. Niemeyer of the RKD, dated 20 February 1962, in which he attributes this painting to Jan de Beijer.