Albuminscriptie / van [Willem Schellinks (1627-1678), schilder en dichter], voor het album amicorum van Jacob Heyblocq (1623-1690), rector van de Latijnse school te Amsterdam

In the 15th-16th centuries, as a result of a protestant migration, Amsterdam became the most important trading city in Holland. In the 17th century Amsterdam grew to the #1 port in Europe and the leading financial center of the world. Amsterdam trading ships sailed to North America, Indonesia, Brazil, and Africa - the later Dutch colonies. Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, was the first multinational corporation to issue stocks to finance its business. Amsterdam was governed by a body of regents, an oligarchy group with control over all city's life, and the foreign affairs of Holland. Regents spent on the water-ways and infrastructure, hospitals, churches, favored private investment and helped to raise standards of living, allowing the Amsterdam Golden Age - the earliest industrial economy. Amsterdam's wealth was generated by commerce sustained by the encouragement of entrepreneurs of any origin. Amsterdam was a city where immigrants formed the majority. Most immigrants were either Lutheran Protestant Germans, French Huguenots, or Portuguese/Spanish Jews. There was also an influx of Flemish refugees following the fall of Antwerp. Wealthy immigrants were welcomed and got all privileges except those of citizenship, but no encouragement was given to poor Dutch from the countryside or other towns of Holland. During the Napoleonic wars, Amsterdam's fortunes reached their lowest point. At the end of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution gave the economy a big boost and led to a huge influx of worker migrants from the Dutch countryside.

Willem Schellinks was a Dutch painter and draughtsman of the Golden Age. Born in Amsterdam, he was known for his landscape paintings and drawings. Schellinks was a member of the Bentvueghels, a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome, where he spent several years studying and working. He is best known for his detailed and realistic landscapes, often depicting Italian and Dutch landscapes. Schellink's work is held in various museum collections, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. He died in Amsterdam in 1678.