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Lot Essay
As one of the most accomplished seventeenth-century painters specializing in church interiors, Emanuel de Witte began his career in his native Alkmaar painting portraits and history subjects, joining the Guild of Saint Luke in 1636. After working briefly in Rotterdam, he moved to Delft in 1641, where he joined the painters guild the following year. It was only in around 1650 that the artist turned to representations of church interiors, with his interest in architectural themes likely stimulated by the paintings of his fellow townsman Gerrit Houckgeest, whose realistic portrayals of Delft churches and the national monuments within them seemingly reflected the mostly local demand in the traditionally royalist city. While de Witte adopted Houckgeest’s innovative two-point perspective and placement of columns in the immediate foreground, his imagination seemingly responded more to the expansive spaces of Dutch Gothic churches and the rich interplay of sunlight and shadow, with great focus on the figures within them.
In around 1652, de Witte moved to Amsterdam, where he carved out a niche for himself in the city’s competitive art market through his faithful depictions of churches and their inhabitants. From around 1660, the artist transitioned from painting real spaces to increasingly imaginary interiors, many of which incorporated elements of Amsterdam’s main churches – like the Nieuwe Kerk and Oude Kerk – and Stadhuis (now the Royal Palace) into a single invented composition. Marijke de Kinkelder dated the present picture to the 1670s or 1680s (private communication with Peter Mühlbauer, see Provenance), a period in which de Witte, perhaps in a bid to broaden the range of his clientele, painted a number of overtly Catholic – and entirely imaginary – church interiors. Ilse Manke, in her catalogue raisonné (Emanuel de Witte, Amsterdam, 1963), lists as many as twenty works of this theme, many of which, as in this picture, feature monks in the act of greeting elegantly dressed visitors. These include the Interior of an imaginary Catholic church of 1668 at the Mauritshuis, The Hague; the Interior of a Baroque church at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; and the Interior of a Catholic church, sold Christie's, London, 3 July 2012, lot 15 (£657,250). In the present picture, the viewer is left in no doubt as to the church’s religious persuasion, elucidated by the illuminated monks in brown habits in the lower right, which are paralleled by a plaque with the Jesuit Christogram IHS (Iesus Hominum Salvator), and a congregation celebrating mass before the high altar through the archways.
This picture attests to de Witte's overriding interest in the depiction and articulation of interior space and light, rather than in carefully observed architectural details. The multitude of different light sources in this composition makes for an especially rich interplay of light and shadow, which serve to delineate the full extent of the space. The sense of movement and recession through the church is further punctuated by the purposeful placement of figural groups at intervals throughout the composition.
In around 1652, de Witte moved to Amsterdam, where he carved out a niche for himself in the city’s competitive art market through his faithful depictions of churches and their inhabitants. From around 1660, the artist transitioned from painting real spaces to increasingly imaginary interiors, many of which incorporated elements of Amsterdam’s main churches – like the Nieuwe Kerk and Oude Kerk – and Stadhuis (now the Royal Palace) into a single invented composition. Marijke de Kinkelder dated the present picture to the 1670s or 1680s (private communication with Peter Mühlbauer, see Provenance), a period in which de Witte, perhaps in a bid to broaden the range of his clientele, painted a number of overtly Catholic – and entirely imaginary – church interiors. Ilse Manke, in her catalogue raisonné (Emanuel de Witte, Amsterdam, 1963), lists as many as twenty works of this theme, many of which, as in this picture, feature monks in the act of greeting elegantly dressed visitors. These include the Interior of an imaginary Catholic church of 1668 at the Mauritshuis, The Hague; the Interior of a Baroque church at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; and the Interior of a Catholic church, sold Christie's, London, 3 July 2012, lot 15 (£657,250). In the present picture, the viewer is left in no doubt as to the church’s religious persuasion, elucidated by the illuminated monks in brown habits in the lower right, which are paralleled by a plaque with the Jesuit Christogram IHS (Iesus Hominum Salvator), and a congregation celebrating mass before the high altar through the archways.
This picture attests to de Witte's overriding interest in the depiction and articulation of interior space and light, rather than in carefully observed architectural details. The multitude of different light sources in this composition makes for an especially rich interplay of light and shadow, which serve to delineate the full extent of the space. The sense of movement and recession through the church is further punctuated by the purposeful placement of figural groups at intervals throughout the composition.