ABSTRACT
The Amsterdam Town Hall, designed by the great neoclassical architect Jacob van Campen and completed in 1660, was the largest and grandest public building in Europe. Its unprecedented size was intended to rival the civic centres of great mercantile cities of the Renaissance such as Antwerp and Venice. In Pieter de Hooch’s curious architectural fantasy, a theatrical sampling of Amsterdam's citizens enjoy some private pleasures under its stern and noble aegis. Furthermore, De Hooch's many interiors, featuring tiled floors, high ceilings, and neoclassical elements such as columns on the mantelpiece and fluted pilasters decorating the walls, are strongly reminiscent of the Town Hall. De Hooch's interest in the merging of public and private environments finds a unique, poetic expression in these depictions of grand public interiors. The most significant visual influence on his use of the Town Hall is not simply Vennekool's album but the genre of architectural painting in general.
