The Y at Amsterdam, seen from the Mosselsteiger (mussel pier)

The Mosselsteiger, the mussel pier, was one of the jetties where Amsterdam met the IJ, the broad inlet in front of the city where ships of every size lay at anchor. Bakhuizen painted the view from it in 1673 and filled the foreground with people, travellers waiting on the quay while large ships and small craft crowd the water behind them. Close to the shore a crewman pushes his boat along with a boat hook, and two sailors nearby are lowering a spritsail. The signature and the date are painted on a chest at the bottom of the picture. The canvas was bought in 1808, the year King Louis Napoleon brought the national art collection from The Hague to Amsterdam.