Artwork
Fire at Amsterdam by Night
Fire at Amsterdam by Night is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Aert van der Neer. It dates from 1647 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The scene centers on a large fire consuming a building, casting dramatic light across the water and silhouetting the architecture against the night sky.
The painting depicts a nocturnal conflagration along a riverfront in Amsterdam, with flames illuminating a bridge, adjacent houses, and a boat. The scene centers on a large fire consuming a building, casting dramatic light across the water and silhouetting the architecture against the night sky.
Scholars interpret the work as a depiction of an actual fire incident in mid-seventeenth-century Amsterdam rather than an allegorical scene. Such urban fires were recurrent in the period, and van der Neer’s rendering captures both the immediacy of the disaster and the luminous effects of firelight on the surrounding environment.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1647, this landscape by Aert van der Neer is an oil painting on canvas. The work depicts a nocturnal conflagration, featuring architectural elements such as a bridge and houses alongside a river with a longboat. Measuring 58.8 cm in height and 71.7 cm in width, the composition utilizes the medium to render the dramatic interplay of firelight against the night sky, characteristic of the artist's approach to evening scenes.
History & Provenance
The work was painted in 1647 by Aert van der Neer, as indicated by the artist’s date on the canvas and corroborated by its cataloguing in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.
It entered the Statens Museum for Kunst collection directly, where it has remained since at least the museum’s inventory records. The painting’s subject, a nocturnal conflagration on Amsterdam’s Amstel River, aligns with van der Neer’s documented focus on Dutch winter and night scenes from the mid-1640s.
The painting Fire at Amsterdam by Night is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it is located. The work depicts a night scene featuring a conflagration, a bridge, a river, houses, and a longboat.
Executed in oil on canvas, the piece measures 588.0 cm in height and 717.0 cm in width. The work was created in 1647.
Overview
Aert van der Neer's Fire at Amsterdam by Night, an oil painting from 1647, exemplifies the Dutch Golden Age artist's distinctive focus on nocturnal landscapes. This work captures a dramatic conflagration illuminating a canal scene, featuring a bridge, buildings, and a longboat. Van der Neer specialized in depicting such small-scale night and winter vistas, often using natural or artificial light sources to create atmospheric effects. The painting is currently part of the collection at the Statens Museum for Kunst.
Context
Active during the Dutch Golden Age, Aert van der Neer was a contemporary of prominent landscape painters such as Aelbert Cuyp and Meindert Hobbema. While his peers achieved greater recognition, Van der Neer cultivated a specialized niche in nocturnal and winter landscapes, distinguished by his innovative use of light. Despite his unique contributions to the genre, he largely worked in relative obscurity throughout his career, a contrast to the lasting impact of his distinctive artistic vision.
Artist & collection
Artist
Aert van der Neer, or Aernout or Artus (c. 1603 – 9 November 1677), was a landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, who specialized in small night scenes lit only by moonlight and fires, and snowy winter landscapes,…
