Interior of the Oude Kerk at Delft

Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet (after) 1611 - 1675

Summary

Van Vliet specialised in the painting of architecture and made several versions of the interior of the Oude Kerk at Delft. This view is a copy after Vliet; there is an autograph version of the same view from the choir in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, dated 1659, inv. no. W1902-1-15. The painting expresses the spaciousness of the church, with a sense of scale offered by the figures who are engaged in routine activities, such as the gravedigger on the right. The clusters of chatting figures and the presence of a small dog indicate the informal nature of this important place of worship on an ordinary working day. The epitaph on a marble plaque surrounded by angels, on the nearest column, is that of Johann van Lodensteyn.