Jan van der Veen, Fight on the ramparts of Haarlem, 1573

by Atelier Liesjes

after Karel Frederik Bombled, 1853 - 1861

In 1572, Haarlem took sides in the Eighty Years' War against the rebels of William of Orange and against the Spanish king. At the end of that year, under the leadership of Don Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, the Spanish began their siege of the city. In July 1573, the city surrendered after being virtually starved.

During the siege of Haarlem, all inhabitants of the city (men, women and children) helped to repair the city walls that had been damaged by Spanish cannon fire, according to the eyewitness accounts of contemporaries. An eyewitness account from Delft, written in Latin, mentioned in particular a certain Kenau who excelled in her efforts to carry earth to the ramparts to repair them. The anonymous account from Delft also described that the people of Haarlem fought the Spanish besiegers from the ramparts with burning straw and boiling pitch (so-called tar wreaths). After some time, stories emerged that it had been Kenau who had fought against the Spaniards with tar wreaths.

Jan van Call (Nijmegen, 1656 - The Hague, 1703 or 1706) was a Dutch painter and engraver.

Van Call was a self-taught artist who became known for the many landscapes, townscapes and buildings he drew and engraved. He made a long journey via Germany and Switzerland, along the Rhine, to Rome, producing many works along the way.