Lot 1225: Isaak Ouwater (Amsterdam 1748-1793)

The Dam, Amsterdam, with the Town Hall on the left and the Nieuwe Kerk on the right signed with initials and dated 'I.O.W. 1788' (lower left, on the packages) oil on canvas 39.8 x 46.8 cm. (15 5/8 x 18 3/8 in.). PROVENANCE W.J.R. Dreesmann, Amsterdam; Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 22 March 1960, lot 528 (to De Geus van den Heuvel). B. De Geus van den Heuvel, Nieuwersluis; Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 26 April 1976, lot 100 (to Dreesmann). Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. A-20). LITERATURE Verzameling Amsterdam W.J.R. Dreesmann, I, Amsterdam, 1942, p. 11. M. van Waay and H.S. Nienhuis, Verzameling B. De Geus van den Heuvel, Nieuwersluis, Amsterdam, 1963, I, p. 67, no. 100; II, fig. 100. W. Loos, G. Jansen and W. Kloek, Het Galante Tijdperk - Schilderijen uit de collectie van het Rijksmuseum 1700-1800, Zwolle, 1995, p. 80, note 7. EXHIBITION Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdamsche Stadsgezichten (1632-1932), 1932, no. 54. Laren N.H., Singer Museum, Keuze uit de collectie B. de Geus van den Heuvel, 1964, no. 11. NOTES Ouwater, one of the most famous eighteenth century painters of cityscapes, is known to have painted views of Haarlem, Amsterdam, The Hague and other cities. He was greatly praised by his contemporaries for his detailed rendering of brickwork and cobblestones, lively staffage, topografical accuracy and his treatment of light, with the streets, squares and buildings of the city often bathing in a warm glowing sunlight (see R. van Eynden and A. van der Willigen, Geschiedenis der Vaderlandsche Schilderkunst, Haarlem, 1817, II, p. 350). Ouwater painted the Dam and the Nieuwe Kerk (for which, see lot 1219) on more than one occasion, from different angles. A view showing the Town Hall on the right and the Nieuwe Kerk on the left, is in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (Loos, Jansen and Kloek, op. cit., p. 80, illustrated). The Town Hall is built on the site of an earlier, Gothic building (recorded by Pieter Saenredam in a picture in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). By the mid-seventeenth-century, there were several good reasons to replace the old building: the administration of the rapidly growing city had outgrown its accommodation; moreover, the condition of the medieval building had deteriorated to the point where it became dangerous to enter the premises. A new, larger town hall was badly needed. While the construction of the new town hall was still in progress, the old one burned down. Apart from the practical reasons for embarking on the project of building a new town hall, the growing self-confidence of the city, which mainly resulted from the successful negotiations of the Mnster Peace Treaty in 1648, needed an outlet. A project which comprised the planning and construction of the largest government building in seventeenth-century Europe proved the ideal public relations effort for the rich and powerful and above all republican city of Amsterdam. The general euphoria induced the city administrators to choose the most prestigious design from several plans submitted by the leading architects of the day. Brick was considered too pedestrian a construction material. A yellowish sandstone from Bentheim in Germany was used for the entire building (the stone has darkened considerably in the course of time), while only marble was considered good enough for the interior. Jacob van Campen drew inspiration from the public buildings of Rome. A new Capitol was built for the Amsterdam burgomasters who thought of themselves as the consuls of the new Rome of the North. Until 1808 the building was used as a town hall. Subsequently, King Louis Napoleon turned it into a royal palace. The galleries were provided with wooden partitionings to create additional rooms. A balcony was added to the facade to meet royal public relations requirements. Splendid Empire furniture - still part of the collection of the palace today - served to modernise the interior decoration. Louis Napoleon's modifications have since been reversed and the palace restored to its original state of a government building based on classical models.