Gerrit Berckheyde

Gerrit Berckheyde painted the squares and canals of Haarlem and Amsterdam with clear light and precise architecture. His city views show the buildings of the Dutch Golden Age in sunlight.

Born in Haarlem, he trained with his brother Job Berckheyde. The two brothers travelled along the Rhine and worked for a time in Heidelberg before returning home. Gerrit preferred broad, open squares to narrow canal views, and he painted the Grote Markt in Haarlem with its great church many times, as well as Amsterdam’s town hall and the bend in the Herengracht. He also painted church interiors in the tradition of Pieter Saenredam.

Look at the long shadows across the squares, the crisp brickwork and the small figures that give the buildings their scale.