Townscape Bloesem in de Choorstraat
A unique moment in March, the Choorstraat bursts into full bloom for two vibrant weeks.
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| Title | Bloesem in de Choorstraat, Delft |
| Artist | Mark van Huystee |
| Edition | 80 prints |
| Material | Hahnemühle papier |
| Technique | Certified Art Giclée print |
| Year | 2025 |
| Size | 78 cm x 78 cm (31 inch x 31 inch) |
| Price | 570 euro (VAT included) |
The prices mentioned above apply to the townscapes only. Framing, posting & packing are not included.
QUALITY
This is a high-quality print that meets the ‘Certified Art Giclée’ quality standard.
Each print is signed and numbered by me and embossed with my signature. Each print comes with its own Certificate of Authenticity.
CHOORSTRAAT BLOSSOM BY JAN VAN DER MAST
The Japanese cherry trees in the Choorstraat are in full bloom. It will only last a week or so. Mark has yielded to the attraction and has installed himself halfway down the Choorstraat, where it joins the Papenstraat. He is seated across the street from bakery “The Diamond Ring” and draws the white blossom on the trees in all its glory. This is a busy spot in the old town. Many of the passers-by take a peek at Mark’s drawing and offer compliments, ask for a business card, or take pride in telling Mark that they already have a ‘Huystee’ at home: ‘Over the sofa.’ That will be one of Mark’s townscapes, but this time he has opted for a slightly more modest variant. He decided to focus on the trees and set his format to 80 by 60 centimetres, but before long he had to tape on an extra strip of paper to make room for the bakery. ‘Oh well, I became a bit more ambitious.’
It is a location steeped in history. A text on the facade of the ‘Town Bakery’ proudly proclaims that it is here that ‘for many centuries fresh bread has been prepared day and night using traditional methods.’ In the 16th century the building housed an inn called “The Diamond”. Bold letters on a sign around the corner recount that this was the place where one Balthasar Gérard spent the night of 9 on 10 July 1584. The next day he went out and gunned down William the Silent, permanently silencing the Prince of Orange. It seems a little strange to proudly advertise the fact on the wall of a commercial establishment. Putting up a terrorist for the night hardly is something to boast about.
My mind wanders along the lines of, if only you had kept him awake through that night, perhaps his aim would have been less than true and he might have missed his target, Holland’s Father of the Fatherland. There is of course a downside to this scenario, for we would not have had the infamous pair of bullet holes in the wall of the Prince’s residence, the ones that every passing visitor — yes, myself included — kept poking their fingers into before they were protected behind a glass cover. It would have left Delft with one less tourist attraction.
Amid the abundance of blossom the Choorstraat has more to offer. Lots of street furniture, for instance. To the left there is a litter bin decorated with a postcard scene of the street as it was in 1910. Clearly Prins the stationer’s is still there, but the narrow shop next to it that used to sell pianos and organs has been replaced by a high-street chemist advertising its wares in gaudy graphics. The old photograph shows two bicycles, a milkman with his barrow, and a horse and cart in the distance. A caption tells us that ‘the image clearly shows why horses were kept off the pavement.’ Mark and I rack our brains over this bit of information. ‘Could it be a picture puzzle?’ Then the penny drops. The litter bin has become so dirty and stained that the piles of horse droppings littering the road in the picture hardly stand out. Ah yes, how we love to keep our pavements nice and clean. We are a tidy nation. Or perhaps that should be ‘were’? After all, the litter bin is almost too filthy for use. Meanwhile, a man walking his labrador stops and tells Mark that the blossoming tree — a species of prunus — is a grafted tree.
He has looked it up and volunteers additional information: ‘It is a tree that is created artificially by grafting a branch of a desired tree onto the stem of another tree.’
Right, but what would be the tree providing the stem?’ questions a lady who works as a communication specialist at the TU’s nuclear laboratory and who has just finished explaining to us how she gradually drifted towards the sciences.
‘No idea. Another prunus, I suppose.’
‘No, it can’t be. The blossom on the lower trunk looks quite different. It has more pink in it.’ She resolutely walks up to the tree, takes out her mobile phone, and snaps a picture. An app called ‘Plantnet’ used for recognising flora is to provide the answer. ‘That’s funny, it says here it’s the same type of tree as the graft!’
And so life rolls on, providing us with little mysteries to keep us occupied.
Suddenly a shower of little white petals rains down. ‘Snow!’, Mark exclaims and starts drawing them on the pavement. ‘I kept that bit open on purpose so I could add the blossom when it landed.’
Out of the corner of my eye I can see the girl from the chemist’s use a large broom to sweep the petals into the street, only for them to be blown straight back inside.
Jan van der Mast, 4 april 2025
“Suddenly a
shower of little
white petals
rains down.”
INTERESTED IN THE BROCHURE?
Take a closer look at the colourful details of my townscapes in this digital brochure. Just drop me an email and I’ll be glad to send it to you. Please mention whether you’d prefer the Dutch or English version: aW5mb0BodXlzdGVlLmNvbQ==