Lot 232: EMANUEL DE WITTE

EMANUEL DE WITTE ALKMAAR CIRCA 1617 - 1691/2 AMSTERDAM THE INTERIOR OF THE OUDE KERK, AMSTERDAM WITH A SERMON IN PROGRESS signed on the base of the column lower right: De Witte oil on canvas 32 7/8 by 28 1/2 in.; 83.5 by 72.5 cm.

I. Manke, Emanuel de Witte, Amsterdam 1963, p. 91, cat. no. 60.

Nieuwenhuys;
Lord Penrhyn, Penrhyn Castle, Bangor, Wales;
By inheritance to Lady Janet Douglas-Pennant (1923-1997), Penrhyn Castle.

De Witte arrived in Amsterdam around 1652, after a decade in Delft where he had joined the Guild of St. Luke in 1642. One of his favorite subjects was the interior of the Oude Kerk which he painted from many different vantage points. What set De Witte apart from other contemporary painters of architectural interiors was his evocative use of light and shadow which was more important to him than absolute fidelity to the depiction of the architecture. His church interiors are usually enlivened with charming anecdotal details. Here a sermon is in progress while elegantly clad worshipers mill about, some with their dogs, and a young woman rests against the base of a column nursing her child.

We are grateful to Dr. Walter A. Liedtke for confirming this painting to be by De Witte, based on firsthand inspection. He dates it to the artist's mature period, circa 1665.