Jan van Goyen travelled the length and breadth of the Netherlands recording details of landscape and topography in black chalk. A small sketchbook tucked into his pocket, the draughtsman in search of inspiration could quickly delineate sand dunes and architectural structures in the vicinity of his hometown or on extended journeys to France or Germany. Back in his studio, the sketches would provide endless creativity, combining different motifs into realistic or imaginary landscape compositions. These drawings not only functioned as preliminary studies for motifs in paintings, Van Goyen at times also reworked them into larger, more finished drawings, typically monogrammed and dated, intended for sale. Never attempting to depict accurate views, Van Goyen’s preliminary studies unfold as topographical elements in his scenery.

The following drawing originates from a now dispersed sketchbook fifty-four-year-old Jan van Goyen took along on a trip to Kleve, starting on 7 June 1650. After his return to his hometown, The Hague, the remaining pages in the sketchbook were filled with shorter trips, including a visit to Amsterdam. Traveling by boat, the artist recorded the disaster caused by the infamous breach of the Saint Anthony’s dike at Houtewael on 5 March 1651, and the old Town Hall, destroyed by fire the following year. Although the exact location of this windmill is unknown, from the sequence of drawings in the sketchbook it can be concluded that the artist’s is moving around Amsterdam from a low perspective on the water, making stops at bustling markets.

In the night of 5 March 1651, the streets of Amsterdam and beyond were flooded, inspiring many artists to memorialize the devastation. A spring tide at full moon caused the Sint Anthonis dike to break through, flooding the Diemermeer which had been drained in 1629, creating major damage in Amsterdam. At least nineteen leaves in Van Goyen’s sketchbook document the catastrophic tragedy, further evidence that the artist travelled to Houtewael immediately following the breach. Such cataclysms provided popular subject matter in the seventeenth century and artists would often fill the demand of the art market by disseminating the news through prints and paintings. Van Goyen would use the sketches to produce slightly larger, finished drawings of the disaster area.

Other drawings from the present sketchbook are now in the collections of The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam City Archives, Amsterdam, Teylers Museum, Haarlem, Fondation Custodia/Collection Frits Lugt, Paris, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Art Museum, University of Toronto, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Art Institute of Chicago, Fogg Museum/Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, Pougkeepsie, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, and in numerous private collections.