Jacob de Wit

Jacob de Wit (1695-1754) is the best-known Amsterdam painter from the first half of the 18th century. He painted altarpieces for the Catholic hidden churches in Amsterdam. He produced the Earthly and Heavenly Trinity for a barn church dedicated to Saint Willibrord (658-739). He also did many ceiling paintings in the canal-side houses in Amsterdam, as well as overdoor [supraporte] pieces and complete rooms. His greatest and best-known work is in de ´Moses Hall´ of the Town Hall (the present-day Palace on the Dam in Amsterdam). De Wit was especially famous for the way he could suggest sculpture with paint (the so-called ´witjes´ or white monochrome paintings). The most beautiful examples of these can be seen in the same Palace on the Dam in Amsterdam.