Object Image

The Interior of the Buurkerk at Utrecht

This painting - an evocation of light, space, soaring architecture and ordered elegance - shows the inside of the Buurkerk in Utrecht. Several Dutch artists of the time specialised in painting church interiors, but Saenredam was particularly innovative. He exaggerated for effect: here he has stretched the height of the columns, creating a feeling of loftiness and allowing sunlight to flood the building.

The Buurkerk was not a contemporary building; it was constructed between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. But it had recently been remodelled in the new, unadorned Protestant aesthetic, and Saenredam celebrates this transformation. The walls, once multicoloured, have been whitewashed, an...

1644
Oil on oak
60.1 x 50.1cm
NG1896
Image and text © The National Gallery, London, 2024

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