_Jan Beerestraaten_ (Dutch: 1622-1687).
This painter was the son of a cooper of Amsterdam. He travelled
much in Holland, staying in all the towns he visited, and
copying their monuments, squares, and thoroughfares, and
leaving everywhere on his route a great number of sketches and
pictures. He painted Italian views also, but these pictures may
have been founded on local sketches by other Dutch artists.
"His manner of painting was vigorous; delicate finish and
precision of touch were less his aim than freedom of handling
combined with broad contrasts of tone, where the colour, of a
subdued richness, shows brilliancy and often loses itself in
harmonies of gray" (_Official Catalogue_, and Havard's _Dutch
School_, p. 239).
The castle is that of Muiden, between Amsterdam and Naarden. The
fortified village is in the distance. On the left is the Zuyder Zee.
Signed in the foreground, and dated 1658.