View of Brussels


The View of Brussels is a painting by Jan Baptist Bonnecroy. It shows a panoramic view of the city of Brussels in the 17th century.

Legacy

The work was painted by Jan Baptist Bonnecroy, a Flemish painter from Antwerp, circa 1664-1665.
It belonged to the Dukes of Arenberg.
Around 1960, the painting was sold by Engelbert-Charles d’Arenberg to a New York art dealer, who sent it to the United States.
In 1990, the King Baudouin Foundation’s Heritage Fund was able to purchase the painting and return it to Belgium. The work has been entrusted, on long-term loan, to the Royal Fine Arts Museums of Belgium in Brussels.

Description

The painting shows a bird’s eye view of the city of Brussels. It is painted looking down from an imaginary height in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. in the north-west of the city. Bonnecroy would have been unable to see the city from this aerial perspective, proving that he worked in total liberty. He accentuated various buildings in the city, taking inspiration from local land surveys and printed maps.
A number of buildings in the painting can be identified, notably within the inner ring around the Pentagon of the old city. Amongst the buildings represented can be seen: