Pieter Neefs the Elder

Anonymous sale ("Different Properties"), London, Christie's, 3 April 1914, lot 56 (as "Peter Neefs");

Where acquired by Charles Davis, London, for £68.5;

Probably from whom acquired by Sir Berkeley Sheffield (1876-1946), 6th Baronet, Normanby Park, Scunthrope, Lincolnshire;

By whom sold ("The Property of Sir Berkeley Sheffield, Bart., Removed from Normanby Park, Scunthrope, Lincolnshire"), London, Christie's, 16 July 1943, lot 95 (as Neefs with the figures by Frans Francken);

Where acquired by "Langford," for £63;

Thereafter acquired by the present collectors.

Executed on a remarkably grand scale and signed by the artist, this commanding church interior exemplifies Pieter Neefs' mastery of architectural painting and his position as one of the most prolific Flemish specialists in the genre during the first half of the seventeenth century. The vast, imaginary cathedral unfolds within a rigorously designed perspectival framework, drawing the viewer’s eye deep into the space beneath the soaring, coffered vault. Neefs animates the monumental architecture with minute descriptive detail: elegant figures, dispersed throughout the nave, chapels, and side aisles, reinforce the painting’s function as both an architectural fantasy and a meditation on civic and devotional life.