View of Bakenessergracht with Passer-en-Valk Brewery

Berckheyde painted this view of the Bakenessergracht canal in Haarlem in the 1670s. He was about 35, a specialist in city views and church interiors, and he spent his entire career in Haarlem painting the city's streets and canals. The Bakenessergracht runs through the center of the painting, its water reflecting the brick facades of the houses on both sides. The Passer-en-Valk brewery stands at the right, a large building with a stepped gable and a sign bearing its name. Houses line the canal on both sides, their red-brown brick walls and white window frames catching the afternoon light. A few small figures walk along the canal path, and a bridge crosses the water in the middle distance. The sky is pale blue with thin clouds, and the light falls evenly across the scene. Berckheyde was born in Haarlem in 1638, the younger brother of Gerrit Berckheyde, who was also a painter of city views. He trained in the workshop of his brother and spent his career producing views of Haarlem's canals, churches, and market squares. His paintings are less well known than those of Jan van der Heyden, the Amsterdam cityscape painter, but they are more atmospheric and less mechanical. Berckheyde was interested in the quality of light on brick and water, and his best paintings have a warmth that van der Heyden's lack. The painting is a document of Haarlem in the 17th century. The Bakenessergracht was a residential canal in the southern part of the city, and the Passer-en-Valk brewery was one of several breweries that operated in Haarlem in this period. The brewery building still stands, though it is no longer a brewery, and the canal looks much the same today as it does in the painting. Oil on canvas, 57 by 67 centimeters, roughly 22 by 26 inches. Berckheyde painted with a smooth, controlled surface, building the brick facades in thin layers of warm red and brown. The reflections in the water are rendered with vertical strokes of color, mirroring the buildings above. The figures are small, barely 2 centimeters tall, but their poses are specific. The nearly square format and warm palette make this print work well in a living room, dining room, or hallway with traditional furniture. The canal subject suits a room with Dutch or Flemish decor. A dark wood frame matches the painting's brick tones. The 12x16 or 16x20 size gives the architecture and the reflections enough detail to appreciate up close. The painting is in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. This is a public domain artwork. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.