Jan van der Heyden

View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam

Van der Heyden was one of the first Dutch painters to dedicate most of his output to cityscapes and other depictions of groups of buildings. In addition, he also painted approximately 40 pure landscapes, of which two on glass. At the end of his career he painted still lifes in indoor settings.[1]

His most frequent subject were various views of Amsterdam. In addition, he painted vistas of other Dutch, Flemish and German cities (in particular the region near the Dutch–German border), country houses and estates and landscapes.[4] It is believed that he visited these places personally. A painting of an Italian scene is believed to have been based on a drawing by Daniël Schellinks. Other foreign scenes may have been based on drawings of other artists.[8] Van der Heyden often painted country estates. Several views exist of Goudestein, a country estate owned by Joan Huydecoper II, the Amsterdam burgomaster.[4] A set of 14 paintings depicting scenes in and around the village of Maarssen were likely also made on commission for Joan Huydecoper II, who had developed real estate around that village.[1]

An Architectural Fantasy

Van der Heyden also created completely imaginary architectural fantasies, so-called capricci. An example is An Architectural Fantasy (c. 1670, National Gallery of Art), which appears to be a product of pure imagination. Italian influences are visible in the classical structure recalling the buildings of Palladio and the decorative sculptural elements. The figures, probably painted by Adriaen van de Velde, on the other hand, are unmistakably Dutch. While the great house with its sunlit formal gardens evokes an idealized world, at the elaborate gateway of the brick walls surrounding the gardens, an elegant gentleman encounters a beggar with her baby.[9] The inclusion of these discordant elements undermining the country idyll set van der Heyden apart from his contemporary Gerrit Berckheyde. Various of his compositions include out-of-place statuary, stray farm animals or even urban shepherdesses, which add a feeling of anomaly and contradiction. These elements contribute to the feeling of modernity typical for his works. Only one painting known as the Triumph of Mordecai (Staatliches Museum Schwerin), depicts a history scene. It is probably an early work, which, as behoves an architectural painter, gives much prominence to the buildings in the composition.[10]

Despite the apparently naturalistic style, which was so detailed that every single brick was visible, the artist did not strive for topographical accuracy in his city views. Even in his depictions of recognizable sites he regularly adapted and rearranged the architecture and setting to fit his overall compositional goals. Topographical accuracy was clearly not his primary objective. Rather he strove to present an idealized vision of the world around him. Despite the attention to detail, Jan van der Heyden's primary aim was to achieve an overall harmony in his compositions. It is possible that van der Heyden achieved the details in his paintings with the aid of a magnifying glass or even a camera obscura, lenses and mirrors.[4]

The Dam and Damrak

Van der Heyden's scenes are usually bathed in a brilliant, crisp light of almost unnatural clarity. Van der Heyden's skill in distributing areas of light and shade and his mastery of subtle atmospheric effects contribute to the sense of coherence and unity of his works.[3]

The staffage in his paintings was often added by other artists such as Johannes Lingelbach, Adriaen van de Velde and Eglon van der Neer. He most often collaborated with the accomplished painter of figures and animals Adriaen van de Velde. The two artists had an especially successful partnership built on their complementary skills: Adriaen van de Velde contributed his lively and well-characterised figures to van der Heyden's exquisitely painted architectural settings.[3] A fine example of their collaboration is The Dam and Damrak (c. 1663, Fogg Museum). The composition depicts the Dam and Damrak bathed in a late afternoon sun, which casts long shadows on the cobblestones of the Dam. The Damrak, the waterway that linked the Dam to Amsterdam's harbor, terminates at the far left of the composition.[11]

Jan van der Heyden painted still lifes in the beginning and at the end of his career. Nine of his still lifes survive. One of his earliest dated still lifes is a Still life with a bible (signed and dated 1664, Mauritshuis). This and other early still lifes typically depict a bible and other objects on a table with a carpet.[12]

Still Life with Globe, Books, Sculpture, and Other Objects

An example of his early works in this genre is the Still Life with Globe, Books, Sculpture, and Other Objects (c. 1670, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna). This painting stands in a long tradition of Dutch still life paintings depicting vanitas symbols. These symbols include not only hourglasses, skulls and smoking candles but also attributes of scholarship and intellectual inquiry assembled in an amateur collector's cabinet or the study of a humanist scholar. This tradition is also found in the Dutch painter Gerard Dou's rare still lifes, which are considered an important influence on van der Heyden's still lifes. Dou's Allegorical Self-Portrait in a Studio, which includes still life elements, has been identified as an important influence on this composition. In particular, like in Dou's composition, van der Heyden's still life scene depicts a wide range of objects of an artistic as well as a scientific nature. These objects reference the passion of contemporary scholars for putting together collections of miscellaneous objects. The objects in van der Heyden's Still Life with Globe, Books, Sculpture, and Other Objects were apparently selected to evoke the two intellectual attributes of the active and contemplative life. The contemplative life is the life of art, philosophy and theology while the active life is characterised by curiosity about the outside world and, in particular, the commerce with the New World in which the home country of van der Heyden was actively involved. This world of trade is represented in the globe and atlas, as well as the imported products such as the Chinese silk cloth on the table, the Japanese lacquered box and the exotic animal (a South American iguana) suspended at the back of the composition. The map on which the atlas is open is a plan of the fortifications of Bergen-op-Zoom.[12] These fortifications had been built during the Eighty Years War with Spain and had played an important role in achieving the first victories against the Spanish troops. They thus referenced the founding myths of the nation.[13] Van der Heyden may also have selected this map as a reference to the recent hostilities with France. The same map is also included in two of his later still lifes. In the lower right of the painting is a large Protestant Bible opened to the end of Het Boeck der Psalmen (Book of Psalms) at the chapter entitled PROVERBIA / Spreuken / SALOMONIS (Solomon's Proverbs). It is likely that the artist intended to reference the messages in Solomon's Proverbs about wisdom, self-discipline and justice as well as the vanitas message, as one of the Proverbs states that only righteousness can deliver from death.0

Room Corner with Curiosities

Van der Heyden stopped painting still lifes around 1670 only to return to the subject in the last two years of his life. The motifs, designs and themes in his later still lifes are the same as those of his early still lifes but their execution is very different, much drier.[12]

Van der Heyden painted his still life masterpiece Room Corner with Curiosities at the age of seventy-five in 1712, the year he died. Now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest the composition reprises the themes of his earlier still lifes with special attention given to the vanitas symbolism. The Bible in the foreground is opened at the well-known line from Ecclesiastes: 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity'. This message may have resonated particularly with the artist who was nearing the end of his life. The objects present in the composition point to the various aspects of worldly culture, not just wealth but also noble intellectual aspirations. The atlas is again opened on the page showing the fortifications of Bergen-op-Zoom. Other exotic objects reference all the routes plowed by the Dutch merchant fleets: a Turkish carpet, Chinese silk and porcelain, Japanese weapons and a stuffed armadillo from South America. Classical culture, the cradle of European civilization, is represented in the picture above the fireplace, which depicts the tragedy of Dido, and the German cabinet, which is decorated with an image of Minerva. Terrestrial and celestial globes introduce a universal dimension into the mix of symbols.[13]