Interior of a Gothic Church looking East by Hendrick van Steenwyck
The Flemish painter, Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger, was born in Antwerp around 1550. He was an artist who specialised in paintings of the interior of churches and cathedrals and through his paintings he is credited with rediscovering the art of perspective using realistic ,if imaginary, architectural scenes as the main subject of his paintings. In all of his paintings his architectural themes predominated as, for him, the figures within his pictures were merely subsidiaries. In the case of today’s featured painting, The Interior of a Gothic Church looking East , the architectural details of the painting are by Steenwyck but the figures were thought to have been painted by Jan Bruegel the Elder. The building has not been identified. In the foreground on the right we have a christening party while behind them one can just make out a priest celebrating mass.
