25

Jan Abrahamsz. Beerstraten (1622-1666)
The church of Sloten in the winter. Signed J. Beerstra... Painted in 1658 or 1659. Canvas, 90 × 128 cm.

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv.nr.A 4134. Presented by Miss S.E. Dribbel, Amsterdam, 1967.

Sloten, now part of metropolitan Amsterdam, was a village in the seventeenth century, under a lord of the manor appointed by the city of Amsterdam. From 1650 until 1664, this position was occupied by Cornelis de Graeff, the most influential man in the city. In the 1660s, the church was restored with his help.

Nearly all of Beerstraten's views are in the snow. See also above, nr. 14.

Another version of this painting, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is believed to be a copy by Beerstraten's son, about whom we know next to nothing.

Van Thiel 1968