De Boompjes (The Trees) along the Meuse River in Rotterdam

We have in our collection a fine drawing by the English artist Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), which shows a well-known location in Rotterdam, 227 years ago, just before the French republican occupation of the Netherlands. The artist annotated this drawing in the lower right-hand corner with 'The Bompjies, Rotterdam'. Depicted is the quay on the River Meuse, where a double row of lime trees was planted along its entire length immediately after its construction in 1613-15. The Rotterdammers did themselves an injustice beforehand by naming this leafy quay 'De Boompjes' (the Smalll Trees), even though trees tend to grow into the sky in this city. 'In Rotterdam, we do everything big,' former mayor Ivo Opstelten often remarked in a bassing voice. Perhaps it was an intended understatement. Unfortunately, nowadays there is not much left at that spot but a dull asphalt road with a completely different dynamic. Fortunately, photography had an artistic precursor in the registration of how it once was, in reality but also in experience. [ Albert Elen, 2021 ]