A View of the Nieuwe Korenbeurs on the Damrak, Amsterdam, the Tower of the Oude Kerk Beyond

This charming drawing depicts the commodities market for grain in Amsterdam (De Korenbeurs), built in 1768, which was situated along the Amstel River, on the spot now occupied by the Beurs van Berlage, the former stock and commodities exchange.The sails of ships are visible to the left and behind the building. The tower of the Oudekerk (Old Church) is visible over the building on the right.

Schouten was a draftsman of topographical views in and around Amsterdam. In this sheet, he carefully delineated the building but rendered the figures and foliage with light strokes of brush. Schouten's drawings are often colored and the Met has one of these highly finished sheets which depicts a back street behind the Oudekerk (2005.330.22). The present sheet shows another view in the same neighborhood including the tower of the Oudekerk, a part of the church that does not appear in our colored drawing.


This monochrome sheet was used as a model for an etching of the scene in a loose publication called Fouquet's Atlas published by between 1770 and 1783. The prints in the Atlas were issued separately or as a group. While the print, in the same direction as the drawing, reproduces the architecture quite faithfully and some of the staffage, a number of the figures are different.