15. Willem Akersloot (ca. 1600-ca. 1655)
after Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665)

View of Haarlem Devastated by Siege and Fire

(click on image to print)
Akersloot, View of Haarlem

View of Haarlem Devastated by Siege and Fire

Etching, ca. 1628, 162 x 240 mm., Wurzbach 15, Hollstein 15. Fine impression on laid paper with thread margins or trimmed on the platemark and drum-mounted to a sheet of wove paper; a tiny rust spot and a small split at the bottom center repaired. The print, a bird's eye view with numbered locations, is after a larger version by J. B. Doetechum (W. 2). It was obviously done en suite with Akersloot's two other prints of the city for Ampzing's book on the history of Haarlem (1628), both of them also after Saenredam. Akersloot is best known for dramatic nocturnal scenes after Van de Velde, Molijn and Hondius, but his relatively small output as an etcher also includes portraits and various works for book publishers.