Master Paintings Part II
Master Paintings Part II
Property from a West Coast Private Collection
Pieter Neefs the Elder
Evening Mass in a side chapel of a Gothic cathedral
Lot Closed
January 28, 04:37 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from a West Coast Private Collection
Pieter Neefs the Elder
Antwerp 1578 (?) - 1656/61
Evening Mass in a side chapel of a Gothic cathedral
signed lower right: P. NEFS
oil on panel
panel: 12¾ by 17 in.; 32.4 by 43.2 cm.
framed: 18½ by 23 in.; 47 by 58.4 cm.
Small, candlelit services in a side chapel attended by well-dressed figures were a favorite subject of Pieter Neefs the Elder and his son, Neefs the Younger.1 Many versions of this composition exist, with slight variations in the staffage and in the subject of the altarpiece. This subject gave the artist opportunity to show the cathedral as a meeting places for all social classes, as the faithful attendees here are noble or wealthy while a less fortunate man panhandles in the threshold of the chapel.
1. See B.G. Maillet, Intérieurs d'églises : la peinture architecturale des écoles du nord : 1580-1720, Wijnegem 2012, pp. 313 - 319, cat. nos. M-0811 to M-0849.