The interior of Antwerp Cathedral with figures attending a Mass

Details

HENDRICK VAN STEENWIJK I (KAMPEN C. 1550-1603 FRANKFURT AM MAIN)
The interior of Antwerp Cathedral with figures attending a Mass
oil on panel
28 ½ x 39 ¼ in. (72.4 x 100 cm.)
bearing a date of '1587' (lower centre, on the tomb)

Provenance

with Brian Koetser Gallery, London, Spring 1969.

Literature

T. Fusenig, 'Neeffs und Co. - Die Antwerpener Architekturmalerei im frühen 17. Jahrhundert', in H. Borggrefe and V. Lüpkes (eds.), Studien zur Kultur der Renaissance, III, Marburg 2005, pp. 145 and 150.
J. Howarth, The Steenwyck Family as Masters of Perspective, Turnhout, 2009, pp. 108 and 390, no. 1.15, illustrated, as 'whereabouts unknown'.
B. G. Maillet, Intérieurs d'Églises, 1580-1720: La Peinture Architecturale des Écoles du Nord, Wijnegem, 2012, p. 376, no. M-1194.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, Trafalgar Galleries at the Royal Academy, IV, 1985.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Lucy Speelman Junior Specialist, Head of Part II

lspeelman@christies.com +44 207 752 3074

Lot Essay

The interior of Antwerp Cathedral was one of van Steenwijk’s most popular and frequently painted subjects. The present work shows the site full of life, with worshippers, priests and visitors all present during a mass. The tomb inscribed ‘1587’ in the foreground, lower centre, has previously been interpreted as a date of creation, but may simply be a portrayal of a tomb on the floor of the Cathedral. As Howarth discusses, the altarpiece on the right of the composition, under which the priest is preaching, appears to resemble Wenzel Coebergher’s Preparations for the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, dated 1599 (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, inv. no. 92), which would give the present work a terminus post quem of the same year (op. cit., p. 105).

A very similar painting by van Steenwijk’s pupil, Pieter Neefs, was sold at Christie’s, London, on 19 May 1989, presumably after the present work.

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