Dutch School, Late 16th Century

This appealing view of The Hague shows the ornamental lake known as the Hofvijver, as seen from the present-day Korte Vijverberg, and to the left the royal and governmental buildings of the Binnenhof. More than four centuries later, the view is largely the same today, with the important exception of the Mauritshuis, built only in 1636-41, which would become such a prominent feature to the left foreground of this view. 

One of the most spectacular gouaches of Hans Bol, executed in 1589, shows exactly the same view, though though populated with many more figures and boats and even a scene of the sport of 'Pulling the Goose.' That work, similar in format to this but roughly double the size, is in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.¹

1. See A van Suchtelen and A,K, Wheelock Jr., Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age, exh. cat., The Hague, Mauritshuis, and Washington, National Gallery of Art, 2008-9, pp. 96, 98, reproduced fig. 13.2