Delft in 1615 - Vroom

Artist: 
Hendrik Cornelis Vroom

1615

Oil on panel by Hendrik Cornelis Vroom (1562–1640). It hangs in the Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof in Delft.

The view is one that no one ever saw until the invention of airplanes. The Buitenwatersloot was a major route for goods and people and led to Delft's most impressive and fortified gate, the Watersloot Poort. On the far right is the newly dug Kolk, the triangular-shaped harbor in front of the Schiedamse Poort. The Schie went off in that direction, south, toward Rotterdam, Delftshaven, and Schiedam.

Some of Leeuwenhoek's relatives owned property farther along the Buitenwatersloot, just out of the painting's frame, probably as gardens.