The Dam is Amsterdam’s oldest square and forms the heart of the city. Cornelis Springer is one of many artists to have painted it. He depicts a fine summer’s day in 1882 with many people in the square, some for their work, others for pleasure. The layout has changed little: left the Royal Palace – here largely in shadow – with the Nieuwe Kerk in the background. On the right is the column erected in 1856 to commemorate the Dutch resistance to Belgium’s partition from the Netherlands. This memorial, colloquially derided as ‘Naatje van de Dam’, was demolished in 1914. During his lifetime Springer was regarded as the most important painter of Dutch cityscapes. He was inspired by the topographic painting of the Golden Age and many of his cityscapes have a very 17th-century appearance.