Advanced Search 
Church of Saint Odulphus, Assendelft
Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (Dutch, 1597–1665)
1655
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
40.64 x 36.83 cm (16 x 14 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection
Accession Number48.321
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Believing that the word of God could be communicated only through preaching, Protestant Calvinists in the Dutch Republic removed all religious images from churches and whitewashed the walls. Saenredam specialized in “portraits” of such interiors—paintings as spare and rigorous as Calvinist doctrine itself.
ProvenanceBefore 1940, probably in an English collection [see note 1]. July 19, 1940, purchased by W.E. Duits, Ltd., London (stock no. 7330); 1946, sold by Duits to Pieter de Boer, Amsterdam [see note 2]; 1948, sold by de Boer, through Frederick Mont, New York, to the MFA for $6000. (Accession Date: March 8, 1948)
NOTES:
[1] The back of the panel bears an old label reading "Interior of a Delft Church. Peter de Hooge." [2] According to Duits stock books and index cards on file at the Getty Research Institute (Accession No. 860290, boxes 13, 21, 36). It is not specified from whom Duits purchased the painting.
NOTES:
[1] The back of the panel bears an old label reading "Interior of a Delft Church. Peter de Hooge." [2] According to Duits stock books and index cards on file at the Getty Research Institute (Accession No. 860290, boxes 13, 21, 36). It is not specified from whom Duits purchased the painting.