| Known as the greatest painter of city views in Holland, Jan van der Heyden's influence lasted well into the eighteenth century. Like all great painters, he balanced the needs of realism with those of art, faithfully transcribing what he saw and then structuring that vision by controlling light and atmosphere as well as composition. For all his accuracy, Jan was not above altering reality, not merely to suit his compositional needs but probably for the sake of satisfying his mind - a mind that was inventive on many levels. Houbraken reports that Jan was the pupil first of a glass painter and that he traveled in Holland, Flanders, and the Rhineland. Houbraken's affirmation that van der Heyden painted the Royal Exchange in London has not been confirmed. In his marriage document of 1661, Jan was registered as a painter in Amsterdam. Besides being a painter, however, he and his brother Nicolaes were mechanical engineers and inventors who developed and improved a pumping mechanism. Jan published a book on fire pumps in 1691, which he illustrated himself. Some scholars contend that he spent relatively little time painting, because he was overly occupied by his many inventions. For example, Jan established a plan for lighting the streets of Amsterdam which earned him an appointment in 1669/70 as director of municipal lighting and which transformed Amsterdam into the best-lighted city of its day. Jan's plans were borrowed by the rest of Europe and his lamps remained in use in Amsterdam until the 1840s. Despite his distractions Jan must have found time to paint, since a considerable body of work survives. His earliest dated work is a still life of 1664. He shifted to townscapes just as they became popular; his earliest known examples date from 1666. Given his other interests, it was the ideal subject for him to undertake. Jan's townscapes are considered some of the finest efforts in that vein and established the model for townscape painters that was emulated for well over a century. He combined topographical accuracy (at least the appearance of it) with a picturesque vantage point and fairly austere colors. Besides Amsterdam, which was his most popular subject, Jan painted views of The Hague, Cologne, Delft, Dusseldorf, Brussels, Antwerp, and Leiden (among others), as well as imaginary views and occasional lanscapes of river valleys, hills, mountains, and woods. Adriaen van de Velde* often supplied staffage for Jan's paintings. His popularity extended beyond the boundaries of Holland. The grand duke of Tuscany, for example, ordered one of Jan's pictures. In his later years, Jan retired from his public and engineering obligations and continued to paint. He added interior still lifes to his oeuvre. These images, with their vanitas overtones, are considered a bit less inspired than his earlier townscapes. However, their even and meticulous realism anticipates the nineteenth century trompe Toeil painters. |
