Isaac Ouwater – The Westerkerk as seen from the Prinsengracht, 1778

by Atelier Liesjes

The Westerkerk dominates the scene with its tall, slender tower: a brick nave with large pointed-arch windows, surmounted by the grey-blue bell tower featuring a clock, an open lantern and a gold-crowned dome. To the left and right stand canal-side houses with stepped gables and tall windows, and young trees line the quay. Boats are moored on the water: at the bottom left, a wide barge with a fluttering Dutch flag and figures on deck; on the right, a larger boat with a mast; and on the far right, a man in a rowing boat. On the quay to the left, a carriage with red wheels and white horses awaits, whilst further on a stone bridge spans the canal. Above the town is a pale blue sky filled with white cumulus clouds. Along the quay, a few figures stand by the boats, small splashes of red and blue amidst the greenery. Ouwater painted the town as a stage set, yet with an eye for the everyday comings and goings on water and land. The composition is calm and balanced, the atmosphere clear; the water reflects the buildings and the sky in shades of grey-green and silvery white. The colours are those of the Dutch cityscape tradition: brick red, cream white, sky blue and the muted greens of the foliage. It is an architectural painting in which the building takes centre stage and the people are merely background figures. The detailing of the brickwork and the window frames betrays a skilled architectural draughtsman. Isaac Ouwater (Amsterdam 1748 – Amsterdam 1793) specialised in cityscapes and followed in the footsteps of the seventeenth-century masters of the genre, adopting a precise, almost documentary approach. He painted and drew numerous Dutch towns and churches and usually signed his work with his initials and the year, as seen here in the bottom left-hand corner. His canvases are highly sought after by collectors of eighteenth-century topography. A bright, monumental cityscape for a classical living room or hall.