The Raampoortje in Amsterdam

From the snowy bleaching fields outside Amsterdam's walls, we look across frozen water at the Raampoortje, a small gate in the city rampart. Beyond it stand the houses along the Bloemgracht canal and, rising out of the haze, the Westertoren, the tower of the Westerkerk. Troostwijk signed and dated the picture in 1809, when Amsterdam was the capital of the Kingdom of Holland, ruled by Napoleon's brother Louis. The scene is an ordinary working corner of the city. A woman stands in the gateway, a man waits by the railing on the bank, and up on the rampart a horse pulls a loaded cart past a street lamp. Smoke rises from the chimneys, and snow lies thick on the red roof of the gatehouse. Grey ice covers the water in front, with a strip of dead grass and snow along the near bank.