In 1914, Hendrik Jan Wolter moved from Laren to Amsterdam, where he moved into a studio on the third floor of the Amsteldijk 47, situated along the river Amstel. From the start, he was highly fascinated by the view from his studio window and he made a series of Amstelviews that can be seen as his best works. These Amstelviews recurrently show an identical composition, with in the foreground the bridge to the Ceintuurbaan, behind which the large imposing Amstel hotel is clearly recognizable, and in the distance a glimpse of the theatre Carré and the Magere brug can be identified (fig. 1).

Though the subject and composition never deviated from each other, the shifting play of light and ever-changing colour of it over the w...