# Sea Gods Paying Homage to Amsterdam [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [QUELLINUS, Artus I]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Stone ## Commentary In 1650, Quellinus moved to Amsterdam, where for fourteen years he directed the vast project of providing sculptural decoration for the new Town Hall, built and decorated to the <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/c/campen/amsterd2.html'\)" href="/html/c/campen/amsterd2.html">plans of Jacob van Campen.</a> The intention was that the enormous town hall by its monumental appearance and its ingenious programme of decoration would express the commercial power and wealth of Amsterdam. Quellinus's sculpture was most explicitly utilized in the service of political propaganda in the giant reliefs with which the two great pediments of the building were decorated. The eastern pediment, facing towards the activities of the port, alludes to the maritime significance of the city; here sea gods pay homage to Amsterdam. The enormous bronze statues crowning the corners of the pediment are female personifications of the virtues on which the ethical conduct of the city government was based. ## Related artworks - [Andries de Graeff]() - [Choir Stalls]() - [Johann de Witt]() - [Louis of Bavaria]() - [Luis de Benavides]() - [Madonna Ara Coeli]() - [Mater Dolorosa]() - [Mercury]() - [Pietà]() - [Portrait of Johan de Witt]() - [Reliefs in the Tribunal]() - [St Peter]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()