Artwork
The Y off Amsterdam
The Y off Amsterdam is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Ludolf Bakhuizen. It dates from 1700 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
A tjalk with full sails dominates the foreground, while several three-masted ships, some sailing and others anchored, populate the middle distance.
The painting depicts the IJ waterway before Amsterdam, featuring various vessels navigating choppy waters that indicate strong winds. A tjalk with full sails dominates the foreground, while several three-masted ships, some sailing and others anchored, populate the middle distance. The background reveals a city silhouette illuminated by the sun, traditionally identified as Amsterdam, though the orientation of a visible church spire faces left, contradicting the actual right-facing orientation of Amsterdam's churches when viewed from the IJ.
A harbor headland with a signal marker appears on the far right. The work functions as a marine landscape capturing the atmospheric conditions and maritime activity of the era, despite the topographical inconsistency in the city's portrayal.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil on canvas, a typical marine genre work of the Dutch Golden Age. The composition depicts the IJ waterway before Amsterdam with a variety of vessels, including a tjalk with bulging sails in the foreground and three-masted ships both under sail and at anchor in the distance. The city skyline is illuminated by sunlight, though the central church steeple appears oriented leftward, a detail noted in contemporary scholarship as inconsistent with actual Amsterdam sightlines.
The work bears Bakhuizen’s signature monogram ‘LB’ painted on a floating barrel in the lower right corner. It measures 61 cm in height by 75.5 cm in width and has been part of the Rijksmuseum collection since 1870, having previously belonged to Leendert Dupper and Johannes Rombouts.
History & Provenance
The painting was created in 1700 by Ludolf Bakhuizen and depicts a marine scene of The Y off Amsterdam.
Its earliest documented ownership traces to a sale in 1828 by Wijnand Esser. By 1850, the work was held by Johannes Rombouts in Dordrecht, who bequeathed his collection to his nephew Leendert Dupper. Dupper subsequently enlarged the collection and, upon his death in 1870, bequeathed it to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The painting is held by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, with inventory number SK-C-1609.
It entered the museum’s collection through the 1870 bequest of Leendert Dupper, who had inherited it via the 1850 estate of Johannes Rombouts. The work was previously owned by Wijnand Esser, who sold it in 1828.
It has not been loaned for temporary exhibitions according to the cited sources.
Overview
Ludolf Bakhuizen, born in Germany but active in the Netherlands, painted The Y off Amsterdam around 1700. The work belongs to the marine painting tradition and is now part of the Rijksmuseum collection in Amsterdam. Bakhuizen established himself as a leading practitioner of seascapes after the van de Velde family, his predecessors in the genre, relocated to England.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Ludolf Bakhuizen (28 December 1630 or 1632 – 7 November 1708) was a German-born Dutch painter, draughtsman, calligrapher and printmaker.
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Warship and Dutch Sailboats near the Shore
