Gerrit Berckheyde was both born and buried in Haarlem, and although he painted views of other cities, such as Amsterdam and The Hague, it is for his views of Haarlem that he is most celebrated. While there is little biographical detail prior to his joining the Guild of Saint Luke in 1660, he did travel in the 1650s with his brother, Job, up the Rhine through Cleve, Cologne and Bonn, to Mainz, Mannheim and as far as Heidelberg.

From the early 1660s, Berckheyde began painting views of the landmark civic and religious buildings within Haarlem's historic core as well as the imposing walls, bulwarks and gates that defined the city's edge, fueled by local pride in Haarlem's heritage and its physical character. At a time when Dutch society...