During the five months in Holland he interacted most extensively with Nicolaes Witsen, the mayor of Amsterdam, who was an expert on both Russian affairs and on shipbuilding.
Nicolaes Witsen | The painting, ''Travellers attacked by brigands'' by Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem | Nicolaes Tulp | Nicolaes Geelvinck |
The mayor of Amsterdam Nicolaes Witsen and a member of the Royal Society probably asked him to draw the city famous for its 40 columns.