Object: Picture - Drawing, View of New Amersfoort (Flatlands, Brooklyn) in 1806

This rare early 19th-century drawing, View of New Amersfoort—today’s Flatlands, Brooklyn—was created by the artist Cornelis Apostool (1762–1844). Apostool worked in the New York area for a time before returning to the Netherlands, where he later became director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

In this work, Apostool enhances the pastoral character of the scene, portraying the Dutch Reformed Church as older than it actually was, with moss creeping over the roof’s shingles. When Apostool made his drawing in 1806, the congregation was using a new church building constructed only a dozen years earlier, in 1794— represented the second church erected for the Dutch community.

Originally founded by decree of Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1654, the Flatlands Reformed Church is the oldest church in Brooklyn, along with its sister congregations, the Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope and the Flatbush Reformed Church. The only older church was the Collegiate Church of New Amsterdam, established in 1628.

A lasting reminder of the area’s Dutch heritage, the Flatlands historic graveyard still survives today and serves as the final resting place for many prominent early families, including the Kouwenhovens, Lotts, Stoothoffs, Sprongs, Suydams, Wyckoffs, and Voorhees, among others.

Reference: Amsterdam Museum collection

Drawing: Inv. no. TA 12515

Artist: Cornelis Apostool, Dutch (1762–1844)

Date: 1806

Medium: pen in ink, washes, inv. no. TA 12515

Dimensions: 13, 8 x 20,1 cm