Jan de Beijer (Aarau 1703-1780 Kleef)

Around 1730-5 Jan de Beijer left his native Switzerland for Amsterdam, which he had visited many times during his youth. There he became a pupil of Cornelis Pronk (for a drawing by the artist see lot 70), an already established topographical artist whose influence is evident in De Beijer's work. From 1736 De Beijer travelled through Holland documenting the towns and cities that he visited in a large number of drawings. The present drawing, unusual in its fine execution and detail, was made during one of these trips. It depicts the Grote Markt (main square) of Haarlem, which has mostly remained unchanged until today.

An almost identical version of this sheet is in the Gemeentearchief, Haarlem (inv. 53-000488 M; see H. Romers, op. cit., no. 884b), while another version, with watercolour and dated 1746 and inscribed 'De Groote Markt te Haerlem te sien uit het Hujs van Laurens Koster 1746 J: De Beyer ad viv:/ delin:', was sold at Christie's, Amsterdam, 30 June 2010, part of lot 313A. According to the inscription, that drawing was made from the house of Laurens Janszoon Coster, who allegedly invented printing at the same time as Johannes Gutenberg. The present drawing is a later repetition, as confirmed by the dating on the verso.