REMBRANDT'S AMSTERDAM
By Frits Lugt
I
Plate 1. View of Amsterdam from the East. (reversed). After the etching by Rembrandt
“The city seems to float upon the waters and looks like the sovereign of the deep. It is crowded with merchants of every nation and its habitants are themselves the most eminent merchants in the world. It appears, at first, not to be the city of any particular people, but to be common to all, as the centre of their commerce. The vessels in this harbour are so numerous, as almost to hide the water in which they float; and the masts look at a distance like a forest.”
“I gazed, with insatiable curiosity, upon this great city, in which everything was in motion.”