Gerrit Toorenburgh

Gerrit Toorenburgh was baptised in Amsterdam in August 1732 and trained with Jan ten Compe, one of the best-known painters of Dutch town views in the middle of the 18th century. Like his teacher he painted streets, canals and city gates with close attention to the real buildings, and he found his motifs well beyond Amsterdam, painting the East Gate of Delft in 1761 and a winter view of Leiden ten years later.

He also worked as a painter of wall hangings, the large painted canvases that covered the walls of well-to-do Dutch rooms at the time. In 1764 he joined the painters' guild in Haarlem. Around 1772 the young Jordanus Hoorn was sent to him for weekly lessons over half a year, and Hoorn later recalled them in his autobiography. Toorenburgh died in Nijkerk, a small town in Gelderland, in 1785.