The Vegetable Market at Amsterdam

Berckheyde painted this market scene in 1680, showing the vegetable market on the Dam in Amsterdam. He was a Haarlem painter, the younger brother of the landscape painter Gerrit Berckheyde, and he specialized in city views and market scenes. The Dam was Amsterdam's central square, and the vegetable market occupied one corner of it. Berckheyde painted the market from an elevated viewpoint, looking down at the stalls and the crowds. Dozens of figures fill the square: women selling vegetables from baskets and barrels, buyers examining the produce, children running between the stalls. The stalls are arranged in rows, with cabbages, carrots, onions, and other vegetables visible. Behind the market, the buildings of the Dam rise against the sky, including the weigh house and the town hall. The painting is a document of daily life in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, but it is also a carefully constructed composition. Berckheyde arranged the stalls in converging lines that lead the eye toward the center of the square. The figures are painted in individual poses: a woman leaning over a basket, a man counting coins, a child pulling at its mother's skirt. The vegetables are painted with attention to color and texture: the green of the cabbages, the orange of the carrots, the brown of the onions. Berckheyde was born in Haarlem in 1630 and spent most of his career there. He and his brother Gerrit shared a studio, and both painted city views of Haarlem, Amsterdam, and other Dutch towns. Job's market scenes are less well known than Gerrit's city views, but they are more populated and more narrative. The Vegetable Market at Amsterdam is one of his best. Oil on canvas, 68 by 56 centimeters, roughly 27 by 22 inches. Berckheyde painted with a smooth surface, building the figures in small, precise strokes. The buildings in the background are painted with architectural accuracy, and the vegetables in the foreground are painted with the same care as the figures. This print works in a kitchen or dining room, where the market subject suits the setting. The warm colors of the vegetables and the cool tones of the buildings pair with white tiles, wood cabinets, and copper cookware. The 16x20 framed version gives the figures and the produce enough detail to read. In a larger space, the 18x24 size adds presence. The painting has been in the Rijksmuseum since 1808.