Collections Database

Description:
Landscape with city in distance; shipyards, church steeples, windmills, warehouses

Label Text:
Unlike many of Rembrandt’s composite landscapes which were inspired by rather than transcriptions of actual sites, View of Amsterdam depicts a recognizable view (which is, however, reversed in the print).The carefully considered composition makes the best use of the flatness of the countryside, with the wide expanse of sky taking up two thirds of the picture plane, further highlighting the string of windmills on the right, the church steeples leading to the left, and the masts of boats in the harbor on the far left. A winding river leads our eyes toward the background, creating a convincing spatial recession, while an unruly clump of vegetation anchors the left foreground.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1992.25.12

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