Amsterdam tot stad verheven, ca. 1335 1865 - 1870

Willem Steelink created this print, “Amsterdam tot stad verheven,” sometime in the 19th century. It depicts the moment in 1335 when Amsterdam was granted city rights. While Steelink was working several centuries after the event, the image tells us much about 19th-century Dutch attitudes towards their national history. Urban centers like Amsterdam were central to Dutch identity, and they served as symbols of the nation's economic and political power. Steelink’s composition reflects this: the king is positioned as bestowing a great honor, and the city representatives receiving that honor are portrayed as proud and grateful. The institutional history here involves both the monarchy granting rights and the city’s reception of those rights. As historians, we look at images like these for what they tell us about the past and the time in which they were made. Through careful research into economic structures, political movements, and social classes, we begin to understand the place of art within culture.