Watermark: Pot with one handle and foot, with letters "D reversed P[?]" (similar to Heawood, no. 3642: London, 1620), fragment.
The drawing depicts the town of Enkhuizen, a port in the province of North Holland, less than 30 miles from Amsterdam. In the upper right corner the draughtsman has provided a key to the numbers placed above points of interest in the town's skyline.
The artist's notation "wat te hoochg", written above a group of rooftops to the right of the tower of the South Church, indicates that he had shown the houses "a little too high" at this point. Below the church, in the area paralleling the water's edge, he wrote "langs heen vol boomen" to remind himself that there were trees all along there.
Inscribed by the artist, in brown ink; across the center, "Enckelhǔisen"; at the upper right is the key to the ten numbers above the buildings, "1 valbrug / 2 mamerttrǔls brug / 3 t'klockhǔijs / 4 de kraen / 5 de suyder kerck / 6 de ton op de keten / 7 peeper toorn / 8 denieǔwe pack tǔynen / 9 de kaep / 10 t' stathuis"; to the right of center, over houses, "wat te hoochg"; under church, "langs heen vol boomen"; and at upper right near margin (turned sideways), "65". On the verso, by the artist, at upper right near margin (turned sideways), in brown ink, "64"; at upper left, in another hand, in graphite, "37 (encircled)"; and at lower right, also in graphite, with Colnaghi dealer's code, "D 24330".
At the upper right is the key to the ten numbers above the buildings; inscribed to the right of center, over the houses, "wat te hoochg", under the church "langs heeen vol boomen"; at upper right near margin, "65".
Otto, E. J., former owner.
Davis, Margery Baker, former owner.
Davis, Richard S., 1917-1985, former owner.
Pierpont Morgan Library. Review of Acquisitions, 1949-1968. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969, p. 175.
Adams, Frederick B., Jr., ed. Fifteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1967 & 1968. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969, p. 100.
Stampfle, Felice. Rubens and Rembrandt in Their Century : Flemish and Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century from The Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1979, no. 47, repr.
Jane Shoaf Turner, with contributions by Felice Stampfle, Dutch Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library: Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries, New York, 2006, cat. no. 321.