947 - Dutch flower market by a canal with drawbridge and tower, genre scene in ornate frame

Dutch flower market by a canal with drawbridge and tower, genre scene in ornate frame Oil/canvas, indistinctly signed lower left, numbered on the canvas on the reverse "553", 2nd half 20th century, Dutch flower market, canal scene with a brick building with round tower and pointed green roof on the left, in front of it a quay wall with two arched openings, in the centre a drawbridge with lifting frame over the canal, behind it a row of houses and in the haze a domed building with tower, in the foreground a quayside path with flower baskets in red, orange, pink and yellow, with sellers and customers, on the left a boat lying at the bank, good condition, image 70x60 cm (HxW), framed, gold-coloured ornate frame with rocailles and flowering scrolls, frame width 7.5 cm Flower markets along the canals are part of the townscape of the Netherlands; the best known is the Bloemenmarkt in Amsterdam, where since 1862 flowers have been sold from floating barges on the Singel between Muntplein and Koningsplein, which is why it is regarded as the only floating flower market in the world. Drawbridges are movable bridges in which a counterweight balances the bridge leaf when opening, so that they can be opened quickly and with little effort to give shipping free passage. Amsterdam has more than 100 kilometres of canals and around 1,500 bridges; the canal ring with Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, laid out from 1613 in the 17th century, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010 and earned the city the name "Venice of the North".