- 232
Emanuel de Witte
Description
- Emanuel de Witte
- 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
Provenance
Lord Penrhyn, Penrhyn Castle, Bangor, Wales;
By inheritance to Lady Janet Douglas-Pennant (1923-1997), Penrhyn Castle.
Literature
Condition
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."
Catalogue Note
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.