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Interior of St. Bavo Church, Haarlem
Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (Dutch, 1597–1665)
1660
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
57.2 x 51.4 cm (22 1/2 x 20 1/4 in.)
Framed: 73.7 x 67.6 x 6 cm (29 x 26 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.)
Framed: 73.7 x 67.6 x 6 cm (29 x 26 5/8 x 2 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2019.2096
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
St. Bavo, or the Grote Kerk (literally “the big church”), is the largest and most important church in Haarlem and a source of local pride, then and now. This building was also something of an obsession for Saenredam, who painted it more than twenty times. St. Bavo was built as a Catholic house of worship in the 15th century. In 1578, iconoclasts destroyed its religious decoration and converted it into a Protestant church. Here, the artist has exaggerated the height of the nave for dramatic effect.
ProvenanceProbably William Seguier (b. 1772 – d. 1843) or possibly his brother, John Seguier (b. 1785 – d. 1856), London [see note 1]. March 7-10, 1905, anonymous sale, Muller, Amsterdam, lot 662 [see note 2]. Jan Six van Hillegom van Wimmenum (b. 1857 – d. 1926), Amsterdam; by descent to his son, Gijsbert Christiaan Six van Wimmenum (b. 1892 – d. 1975), Laren, The Netherlands [see note 3]. December 9, 1987, anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 83. By 1989, Harari and Johns (dealer), London [see note 4]. 1995, sold by Noortman Master Paintings, London, to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA; 2019, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 11, 2019)
NOTES:
[1] According to the Catalogue Raisonné van de werken van Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (Utrecht, Centraal Museum, 1961), cat. 32, this painting was in the Seguier collection. Harari and Johns, Six Centuries of Old Master Paintings (London, November 1989), cat. 37, notes that it was inventory no. 632 in the Seguier collection.
[2] Sold as on canvas.
[3] Gijsbert Six van Wimmenum lent the painting to the 1961 exhibition Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (as above, n.1). The catalogue entry notes that it was previously in the collection of Prof. Dr. J.P. Six.
[4] Six Centuries of Old Master Paintings (as above, n. 1), cat. no. 37.
NOTES:
[1] According to the Catalogue Raisonné van de werken van Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (Utrecht, Centraal Museum, 1961), cat. 32, this painting was in the Seguier collection. Harari and Johns, Six Centuries of Old Master Paintings (London, November 1989), cat. 37, notes that it was inventory no. 632 in the Seguier collection.
[2] Sold as on canvas.
[3] Gijsbert Six van Wimmenum lent the painting to the 1961 exhibition Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (as above, n.1). The catalogue entry notes that it was previously in the collection of Prof. Dr. J.P. Six.
[4] Six Centuries of Old Master Paintings (as above, n. 1), cat. no. 37.