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One of two remaining wood-fronted houses in Amsterdam (see Het Houten Huis), In’t Aepjen was built in 1550 as a sailors’ hostel, and is now a bar. The name means “In the monkeys”: when sailors couldn’t pay, they would barter – sometimes with pet monkeys (see In 't Aepjen).

Born in Haarlem, Jacob van Ruisdael (1629–1682), though not highly regarded in his own day, has come to be seen as one of the finest landscape and seascape painters of the Dutch school. His works are filled with restless skies and naturalistic details. Even calm scenes such asThe Windmill at Wijk have a sense of dramatic grandeur.

A leading politician in the Anglo-Dutch Wars (1625–72), he was killed by a mob.

Poet, playwright (1618–1700) and friend of Rembrandt, who painted his portrait.

A prolific painter of the genre (everyday) scenes so popular in the Dutch 17th century, Jan Steen (1625–79) was an innkeeper as well as an artist. His often bawdy tavern and household narratives were packed with hidden messages (red stockings for prostitution, oysters for sexual liaison, broken eggshells for mortality), creating allegories with a moral purpose.

After prolonged stays in Germany, Venice and Rome, where he studied the works of Giorgione, Michelangelo and Raphael, Jan Van Scorel (1495–1562) returned to Utrecht in 1524. He introduced the techniques of the Renaissance to the Northern Netherlands; his portraits fuse Italian solidity of form with Netherlandish delicacy.

These former docks, outposts of the Eastern Islands, have been the subject of intense development and renovation in the last decade, in response to the city’s need for new housing. They are now considered trendy places to live, and designer home shops, boutiques, restaurants and cafés are springing up. They are most easily reached by the two bridges from Oostelijke Handelskade.

When the Jews arrived in Amsterdam in the late 16th century, they moved into a lacklustre area to the east of Oude Zijde, around present-day Waterlooplein. Although several synagogues, diamond factories and street markets have survived, the heart of the Jodenbuurt was decimated by post-war redevelopment and the building of the Metro.

Liberal Prime Minister Johan Rudolf Thorbecke (1798–1872) was architect of the 1848 Constitution.

Relatively little is known about the life of this sublime Delft artist (1632–75), who inherited his father’s art-dealing business and painted purely for pleasure. He gained some recognition in Holland during his lifetime, but his importance was not established until the late 19th century, and rests on less than 40 known works – mainly domestic interiors with figures – that are extraordinary in their handling of space, light and colour. He was married with 11 children. On his death, his wife was declared bankrupt, and his baker kept two of his paintings against unpaid bills.