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Job Adriaensz. Berckheyde (1630-1693)
The courtyard of the Amsterdam stock exchange, after 1668. Signed Job Berckheyde. Canvas, 89 × 116 cm.

Amsterdam, Amsterdarns Historisch Museum, cat.nr.47, inv.nr.A 3025. Acquired with the collection bequeathed to the city of Amsterdam by Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854), which became municipal property only after the death dues had been paid by a group of private individuals.

The Amsterdam stock exchange, built to the plans of the Amsterdam city architect Hendrick de Keyser in 1608-1611, was a symbol in the seventeenth century for world trade, as Wall Street is today. The building itself was based on the design of the London stock exchange, and was not very original. What made it so famous was the sheer volume and geographical extent of the dealing.

The statue of Mercury, the god of trade, in the upper left, was added to the building when the southern facade was rebuilt in 1668. Berckheyde painted the building at least two more times.