The Courtyard with the Vijver = Palace Pond at The Hague

In the 1650s and ‘60s, a new genre developed in Dutch painting: the veduta. Civic pride, together with the economic and political prestige of the towns, lay behind the demand for such pictures. Berckheyde was one of a group of painters who specialised in the genre. This picture belongs to a group of works showing views of the town centres of Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague.
The view from a carefully chosen point shows a light-flooded scene with the political centre of the Republic of the United Netherlands: the official residence of the Prince of Orange-Nassau. The pond, which served as a watering-place for the horses, is bordered in the background by the buildings at the “Korte Vijverberg”. Recognisable on the far side is the foreshortened Mauritshuis, built in 1663 for Johann Moritz of Nassau (1604–1679), governor-general of the overseas territories of the Dutch West India Company in Brazil. Today it houses the painting collection of The Hague.
The artist has planned his staffage with care. The spacious square in the foreground and the avenue leading to the governor’s palace are peopled with elegantly-dressed riders and pedestrians with thoroughbred dogs; a bird-dealer and a beggar-woman complete the picture. The calm nobility of the architecture is interestingly counterbalanced by its reflection in the water and the use of light and shade.
During the 1670s, the Golden Age of architectural painting gradually came to a close.
Two dated versions of the Salzburg picture, painted in 1687, probably as commissioned works, are now privately owned.

OEHRING Erika: Berckheyde Gerrit Adriaensz., The Courtyard with the Viyver – Palace pond at The Hague, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 36