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Lot Essay
A native of Switzerland, Jan de Beijer moved to Amsterdam in circa 1750, where he is believed to have been trained by Cornelis Pronk and Jan Maurits Quinckhard. Primarily known for his drawings, De Beijer is known to have painted very few pictures. The present painting, with its linear style and extensive graphic detailing, clearly reveals the artist's training as a draughtsman and relates directly to a drawing with the same view (see: H. Romers, 2000, op. cit., no. 1030a) (fig. 1). In 1770 paul van Liender produced a print after this composition, for Pieter Fouqiet's Atlas van Fouquet of 1775. Most of De Beijer's views of Amsterdam date to 1754-1768.
Jacob Otten Husly, a Dutch architect and teacher, was likely the first owner of this painting. He had an active interest drawings and both the graphic style of De Beijer's painting and the subject must have appealed to him. In the year before its execution, 1758, Otten Husly was the co-founder of a society that preceded the 'Amsterdamse Stadstekenacademie'. In 1765 he became its director and in 1773 he founded the School for Drawing in Amsterdam. Otten Husly is best known as one of the earliest practitioners in The Netherlands of the Neo-Classical and Palladian style. He designed the Town Halls at Weesp and Groningen, and the Felix Meritis Society Building in Amsterdam. He also assisted in the decorations for the so-called Oval Room, the first room of the Teylers Museum, Haarlem. The present lot was sold in 1798, together with one other painting and two drawings by Jan de Beijer, as part of his collection sale after he died.
We are grateful to Charles Dumas for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs, and to Laurens Schoemaker of the RKD, The Hague, for his kind help in cataloguing this lot.
Jacob Otten Husly, a Dutch architect and teacher, was likely the first owner of this painting. He had an active interest drawings and both the graphic style of De Beijer's painting and the subject must have appealed to him. In the year before its execution, 1758, Otten Husly was the co-founder of a society that preceded the 'Amsterdamse Stadstekenacademie'. In 1765 he became its director and in 1773 he founded the School for Drawing in Amsterdam. Otten Husly is best known as one of the earliest practitioners in The Netherlands of the Neo-Classical and Palladian style. He designed the Town Halls at Weesp and Groningen, and the Felix Meritis Society Building in Amsterdam. He also assisted in the decorations for the so-called Oval Room, the first room of the Teylers Museum, Haarlem. The present lot was sold in 1798, together with one other painting and two drawings by Jan de Beijer, as part of his collection sale after he died.
We are grateful to Charles Dumas for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs, and to Laurens Schoemaker of the RKD, The Hague, for his kind help in cataloguing this lot.