This statue is a model for the life-sized cast bronze statue of Atlas that still stands on the roof of the palace on Dam Square. In 1648, the year in which the Treaty of Munster ended the Eighty Years War, the first stones were laid for the new town hall. This richly decorated building that, 160 years later, was to become the royal palace, was also often referred to as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’. Between the years of 1650 and 1675, Artus Quellinus worked under commission for the master builder Jacob van Campen, producing sculptures and reliefs for the town hall. Working in a specially-fitted workshop on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, he designed, amongst others things, this statue of Atlas. Quellinus received 60 guilders for this terracotta model. In 1663 the Atlas statue was cast in bronze by the Hemony brothers.