View of Haarlem from the Northwest, with the Bleaching Fields in the Foreground
Jacob van Ruisdael
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Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum holds 100 Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces in the Paintale collection, including works by Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Steen, Judith Leyster, Rembrandt van Rijn. Each painting page unpacks the symbolism, technique, and provenance of the work — turning a gallery visit, or a search for a single canvas, into a deeper encounter with the period.
Daily LifePower & PoliticsPortraitReligion & MythologyTragedy & DeathLove & Romance
Famous paintings at the Rijksmuseum
The Sampling Officials of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, Known as ‘The Syndics’
Rembrandt van Rijn
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Portrait of a couple, thought to be Adriaen Wittert van der Aa and Maria Knotter
Gerrit Dou
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A Mother Delousing her Child’s Hair, Known as ‘A Mother’s Duty’
Pieter de Hooch
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Johanna Bardoel (d after 1667). Wife of Gerard van der Schalcke
Gerard ter Borch
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Gerard Abrahamsz van der Schalcke (1609-67). Haarlem Cloth Merchant
Gerard ter Borch
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François de Vicq, Burgomaster of Amsterdam for several Terms from 1697on
Gerard ter Borch
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Godard van Reede (1588-1648), Lord of Nederhorst. Delegate of the Province of Utrecht at the Peace Conference at Münster (1646-48)
Gerard ter Borch
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Adolf and Catharina Croeser, Known as ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’
Jan Steen
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Double Portrait of Willem II (1626-1650), Prince of Orange, and Princess Mary Stuart (1631-1660), later Princess Royal
Anthony van Dyck
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About the Rijksmuseum’s Renaissance and Baroque collection
The Rijksmuseum’s holdings of Renaissance and Baroque painting in Amsterdam sit among the most significant surviving collections of pre-modern European art. The works in this group — 100 paintings — span the themes of daily life, power & politics, portrait, religion & mythology, tragedy & death, love & romance and the hands of artists from Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Steen, Judith Leyster, Rembrandt van Rijn, Gerrit Dou.
If you’re planning a visit, use this page as a starting list of the must-see paintings. If you’re researching from a desk, each painting page goes deeper than a museum label: the patron, the symbolism a 17th-century viewer would have recognised, the technique under the surface, and where the painting fits in Rijksmuseum’s longer history.