A Couple Walking in the Amsterdam Town Hall

When de Hooch painted this around 1663, the building in it was brand new and the pride of the Dutch Republic. Amsterdam had just raised an enormous town hall on the Dam square, its marble Citizens' Hall meant to announce the wealth of a small country that suddenly ran much of the world's trade. Visitors called it the eighth wonder of the world. De Hooch had recently moved from Delft to Amsterdam, and instead of his usual quiet courtyards he set a well-dressed couple strolling through that gleaming public hall, sunlight sliding down the columns. The same building still stands on the Dam, though it serves now as the royal palace.