Schiedam gate on Zuidwal; in front is the pier for boarding and disembarking tow barges. It is a mediaeval gate, renovated after 1599 and completely demolished in the middle of the 19th century.

In the middle of the painting View of Delft Vermeer depicts the Schiedam gate of which only the main building (not the barbican) existed during Vermeers' days. This main building is built of red brick, alternating with thin layers of limestone (brick being locally produced and affordable, limestone having to be imported at great cost). Its gate opening was sealed off for traffic. Immediately to the left is a wooden shed built in 1611, storing large wooden material for warfare use: palissades, planks, beams, movable water and grain mills on carts, battering rams, and baskets for moving earth. This is one of the armament buildings which define Delft as a military town. The Schiedam gate building had two clocks, one facing the city side, the other one facing the outside, to which a mechanized bell tower was connected. There was an hour hand, but no minute hand (this only came into being in the 19th century). Tow barges departed according to the schedule and the tolling of the Schiedam bell tower.

The pier in front of the gate was 370" wide and 720" long, as measured by the surveyor who prepared the Figurative Map.

Sir Philip Skippon arrived at this gate; he wrote of his trip from Rotterdam to Delft in 1663 in his Account of a Journey... "May 25, about six in the afternoon, we took our seats in the passage-boat, somwhat like our pleasure barges on the Thames (such a boat goes off every hour of the day) and by one horse were drawn in two hours' time, two Dutch miles to Delft (...) In this passage there was a collection made by the boatmen among the passengers for the poor. Delft is a large city very fairly built..."

On July 6, 1685 the British Minister Williams Carstairs (1649-1715) traveled from Rotterdam to Delft (arriving at the southern Schiedam gate) and from Delft to The Hague (departing at the northern Hague gate). He noted in his travel story that he met an interesting, very well dressed lady who was seated next to him in the passage boat. They exchanged small talk and she was even so kind to provide some small change when payment was due. They spent some time together. Upon arrival and transfer in Delft the boat to The Hague had just left and at the departure point there was a half an hour to spare to have a drink in an inn and eat some eel. At that point the lady got pushy and Carstairs got the strong impression that this lady was a indeed a prostitute out for a client (Stipriaan, Ooggetuigen, p. 258-259).

Literature:

Houtzager, De Kaart Figuratief van Delft, p. 27. Van Bleijswijck p. 635.

Philip Skippon is cited in Hale, Vermeer, 1937, p. 13.

René van Stipriaan, Ooggetuigen van de Gouden Eeuw in meer dan honderd reportages, Prometheus Amsterdam, 2000.

Research and copyright by Kaldenbach. A full presentation is on view at www.xs4all.nl/~kalden/