Brug bij 's Gravenhekje in Amsterdam

Brug bij 's Gravenhekje in Amsterdam — Bridge at the 's Gravenhekje in Amsterdam — painted around 1900, depicts one of the small bridges in Amsterdam's historic eastern canal district. The 's Gravenhekje area was part of the city's medieval expansion and retained much of its original character at the turn of the century, its scale and architecture belonging to an era before the broadening of streets and regularizing of canal sides that later development brought. Witsen's interest in such specific, named locations reflects his role as a pictorial chronicler of Amsterdam before modernization.

The bridge's arch creates a characteristic compositional element — the semicircle of stone reflected in the canal below forming a complete circle that Witsen uses as the composition's visual anchor. His handling of the water's reflection, the bridge's worn stonework, and the surrounding canal-side buildings demonstrates his full range of tonal control.