Exhibition catalog of the exhibition 'Admired City. Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age' at the Mauritshuis in The Hague (until January 11, 2009) and then at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Dutch society in the Golden Age was an urban society par excellence. The cities of the young Republic had grown rapidly since 1600 and were experiencing a period of unprecedented prosperity. Citizens' pride in the beauty and prosperity of their own city, with its old and new monuments, seems to have been reflected in the popularity of the cityscape. Urban governments had portraits of their cities painted as early as the beginning of the century; profile views depicting the entire city. In addition, landscape painters increasingly included cityscapes in their paintings. In these works, the location of a city, often on a river, plays an important role. After 1650, many more artists applied themselves to cityscapes. They now also went inside the city walls and painted views of canals, streets and squares.