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Additional Views

Feb 8, 2007

Feb 27, 2012

Herengracht, Amsterdam

c. 1661

Jan Wijnants

(Dutch, 1635–1684)

Netherlands, 17th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 87 x 101 x 9.2 cm (34 1/4 x 39 3/4 x 3 5/8 in.); Unframed: 67.2 x 81.6 cm (26 7/16 x 32 1/8 in.)

Gift of Harry D. Kendrick 1964.419

Location

not on view

Description

This painting is the first depiction of Amsterdam in which a canal is given prominence. Flanked by picturesque, tree-lined avenues and exquisite mansions, the Herengracht (Gentleman's Canal) was one of Amsterdam's most important waterways. The precision with which Jan Wijnants portrayed the topography of the city enables the viewer to witness the development of this location. To the left of the canal, Wijnants depicted a lumber yard, on which, in 1662, the architect Philip Vingoboons built four houses for the merchant Jacob Cromhout. Furthermore, soon after Wijanants completed this painting the canal was expanded.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower left: "J. Wijnants [with remains of an inscription below]"

Provenance

1964-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Probably 1964

(Frederick Mont, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1963-1964?

(C. Duits, London)1 ¹

1963

(Sale, Sotheby’s, London, July 3, 1963, no. 17, sold to C. Duits)1 ²

Until 1963

Violet Sassoon, Heathfield Park, Sussex, consigned to Sotheby’s

1938

(Sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, March 31, 1938, no. 45)1 ³

Provenance Footnotes

¹1The exact role played by C. Duits, a London dealer, in the sale of the painting to CMA is unclear, but it is possible that he purchased it at Sotheby’s on behalf of Mont, or that he sold it to Mont following the sale. Duits is listed as the buyer of the painting in the price list accompanying the Sotheby's sale catalogue.

²1This sale included the property of "Mrs. Derek Fitzgerald," née Violet Sassoon.

³The painting is among those listed as coming from the collections of "divers amateurs," a term auction catalogues used in the past to refer to various private collectors. The buyer is not recorded.

Citations

Sotheby's (Firm). Highly Important Old Master Paintings. July 3, 1963.

Mary Suzor, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, March 25, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.

Sotheby's (Firm). Highly Important Old Master Paintings. July 3, 1963.

Galerie Charpentier, and Henri Baudoin. Tableaux anciens, gouache, dessin; objets d'art et d'ameublement...March 31, 1938.

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 126 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 126 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 161 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 288; Reproduced: p. 289

Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art (12/18/1964 - 01/08/1964) "Year in Review" (cat. no. 100)

Cleveland Museum of Art (07/10/1973 - 09/02/1973) "Dutch Art and Life in the 17th Century"

Amsterdam Historisch Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario (1977) "The Dutch Cityscape in the 17th century and its Sources" (cat. no. 136, pp. 244)

Cleveland Museum of Art (02/17/1982 - 03/21/1982) "Visions of Landscape"

Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands (10/11/2008 - 01/11/2009) and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. (02/01/2009 - 05/03/2009) "Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age" (ex. cat. no. 52, pp. 208-209, 244-245)

Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).

Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973).

Opkomst en bloei van het Noordnederlandse stadsgezicht in de 17de eeuw (The Dutch Cityscape in the Seventeenth Century and its Sources). Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (organizer) (June 16-August 28, 1977); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (September 27-November 13, 1977).

Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).

Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age. Mauritshuis, Den Hague, Netherlands (October 11, 2008-January 11, 2009); National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (February 8-May 3, 2009).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Herengracht, Amsterdam|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.419|author=Jan Wijnants|year=c. 1661|access-date=01 June 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Herengracht, Amsterdam

Herengracht, Amsterdam

Jan Wijnants

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Description

Inscription

Provenance Footnotes

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