Gerrit Berckheyde, 'The Market Place and the Grote Kerk at Haarlem', 1674
About the work
Overview
Gerrit Berckheyde has placed us among the citizens and the most important buildings of his native Haarlem, and a visitor to the market square today would find a view similar to the one in this painting of 1674. The Grote Kerk (Great Church), which is dedicated to Saint Bavo, dominates the composition and is bathed in strong sunlight. To the right of the square, the town’s meat market with its decorated stepped gable stands out among the neighbouring buildings. As a butcher’s son, Berckheyde would have been quite familiar with this mercantile institution. The colonnaded portico of Haarlem’s town hall takes up the right side of the townscape, and Berckheyde placed his signature on the base of the corner column.
This painting emphasises Haarlem’s religious, political and commercial functions, and the city’s inhabitants gathered on the square literally live their lives between these institutions, adding a layer of subtle symbolism.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Market Place and the Grote Kerk at Haarlem
- Artist
- Gerrit Berckheyde
- Artist dates
- 1638 - 1698
- Date made
- 1674
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 51.8 × 67 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1894
- Inventory number
- NG1420
- Location
- Room 16
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century English Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
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1983C. Brown, 'Rubens' Watering Place: An Examination of His Landscape Technique', Ringling Museum of Art Journal, 1983, pp. 130-49
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1984M. Helston, The Capricious View: An Exhibition of Townscapes (exh. cat. Royal Museum and Art Gallery, 21 April - 28 May 1984; Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 2 June - 7 July 1984; Usher Art Gallery, 14 July - 19 August 1984; Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 1 September - 29 September 1984), Canterbury 1984
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1984H. MacAndrew, Dutch Church Painters: Saenredam's Great Church at Haarlem in Context (exh. cat. National Gallery of Scotland, 6 July - 9 September 1984), Edinburgh 1984
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
1991C. Lawrence, Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde: Haarlem Cityscape Painter, Doornspijk 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.