jacob van campen was inspired by the antwerp town hall. he wanted to build a new capitol for the amsterdam burgomasters who thought of themselves as the consuls of the new rome of the north. the new town hall was claimed to be the largest administrative building in europe. in fact, some travellers described the building as too big for the city where a typical façade was only three windows wide. the technical implementation was looked after by the town construction master daniël stalpaert. the sculptures were executed in antwerp by artus quellijn.