Rijksmuseum

Object data

pen and brown ink, with grey wash and some red chalk, over traces of black chalk; framing line in brown ink

height 182 mm × width 294 mm

Inscriptions

signed, dated and inscribed by the artist: lower centre, in brown ink, A:° 1633· / den 19 Augustij / dit van mij P:r / Saenredam, inde / Assendelfse kerck / geteckent.
inscribed on verso: lower left, in brown ink, No. 117.; above that, in pencil: kerck te Assendelft / A 1633; lower centre, in black chalk, 67 Z; lower right, in pencil, P.Saenredam
stamped on verso: lower centre, with the mark of the museum (L. 2228)

Technical notes

Watermark: None visible through lining

Condition

Laid down

Provenance

…; sale, Hendrik Croockewit (1784-1863, Amsterdam), Amsterdam (P. van Pappelendam and G.J. Schouten), 16 December 1874 sqq., no. 159, fl. 20, to the dealer A.G. de Visser, The Hague;¹ his sale, Amsterdam (F. Muller), 16 (17) May 1881 sqq., no. 367, fl. 47, to the dealer R.W.P. de Vries for the Vereniging Rembrandt;² from whom acquired by the museum (L. 2228), 22 October 1888;³

Object number: RP-T-1888-A-1782

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

Entry

Saenredam immortalized the Sint-Odulphuskerk (church of St Odulphus) in his native village of Assendelft in quite a few drawings and paintings.⁴ The church, a Late Gothic pseudo-basilica, was demolished in 1851 or 1852. Only the tower remained, but that was destroyed by fire in 1893.⁵ Saenredam’s drawings are a superb record of the church as it was in the mid-seventeenth century.

The Rijksmuseum drawing shows part of the church interior from the south-west, looking diagonally across the nave towards the north transept. On the left is part of the nave with the pulpit and the end of the north aisle, on the right part of the choir with the plain square tomb of the Lords of Assendelft. The drawing probably served as the basis for an undated painting now in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin (inv. no. unknown).⁶ A comparison of the two works shows how Saenredam manipulated reality in his painted church interiors. In this case, he simply omitted the rather obtrusive central pillar but added the easternmost bay of the nave arcade, which was not visible from this position. He also eliminated the ornate pulpit, replacing it with a simpler wooden structure against the east wall of the north transept. The heavy tie beams and braces, which must have been particularly prominent, are missing in the painting. Saenredam also altered the proportions, making the interior look far loftier than it really was.

Marijn Schapelhouman, 1998

Literature

F. Vermeulen, ‘Zes teekeningen van Pieter Saenredam’, Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond 13 (1920), pp. 175-95 (fig. IV); M.D. Henkel, Le dessin hollandais des origines au XVIIe siècle, Paris 1931, pp. 119-20, pl. XLIX; Hollandsche teekenkunst in de Gouden Eeuw, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksprentenkabinet) 1935, no. 51; P.T.A. Swillens, Pieter Janszoon Saenredam. Schilder van Haarlem (1597-1665), Amsterdam 1935, pp. 64-65, 89, no. 64 (fig. 48); Holländer des 17. Jahrhunderts, exh. cat. Zurich (Kunsthaus) 1953, no. 194; I.Q. van Regteren Altena et al., Catalogue Raisonné of the Works by Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Published on the Occasion of the Exhibition Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, 15 September – 3 December 1961, exh. cat. Utrecht (Centraal Museum) 1961, no. 23 (fig. 25); F.W. Heckmanns, Pieter Janszoon Saenredam: Das Problem seiner Raumform, Recklinghausen 1965, p. 36 (fig. 21); R. Ruurs, ‘Saenredam: Constructies’, Oud-Holland 96 (1982), no. 2, pp. 97-122 (fig. 25); R. Ruurs, Saenredam: The Art of Perspectives, Amsterdam 1987, p. 82 (fig. 22); G. Schwartz et al., Pieter Saenredam. De schilder in zijn tijd, Maarssen 1989, pp. 92 (fig. 99), 98, 256 (no. 23); J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer and L.M. Helmus, The Paintings of Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (1597-1665): Conservation and Technique, Utrecht 2000, p. 23 (fig. 14)

Citation

(accessed 22 November 2024 18:39:47).

View of the Interior of the Sint-Odulphuskerk, Assendelft