Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1637-1712 Dutch painter, draughtsman, printmaker and inventor. In 1650 he moved to Amsterdam with his family; his father, a Mennonite, who had pursued various occupations rather unsuccessfully, died that year. Jan's artistic training may have begun with drawing lessons in the studio of a relative, perhaps his eldest brother, Goris van der Heyden, who made and sold mirrors; Jan may also have studied the reverse technique of glass painting with an artist in Gorinchem. Painting occupied relatively little of his time, however, although he continued to pursue it throughout his long life. His prosperity was mainly due to his work as an inventor, engineer and municipal official. He designed and implemented a comprehensive street-lighting scheme for Amsterdam, which lasted from 1669 until 1840 and was adopted as a model by many other towns in the Netherlands and abroad. In 1672,
The New Town Hall in Amsterdam after
1652 Oil on canvas, 73 x 86 cm Musee du Louvre, Paris This is the second version of the same subject that he completed shortly after the first painting. (The first is in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.) Here the viewpoint is somewhat further to the right and the perspective is different; the foreshortening of the Town Hall's fa?ade is less pronounced, and the lantern's distortion - too strong in the first version - has been corrected. Artist: HEYDEN, Jan van der Painting Title: The New Town Hall in Amsterdam , 1651-1700 Painting Style: Dutch , , landscape