It seems a service is about to begin in this chapel: the two candles on the altar are being lit. The altar itself is adorned with a painted altarpiece, on which the holy family – Saint Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child – are just visible, painted loosely in blue and grey. An elaborate frame encloses the scene.
This church interior was painted in Pieter Neeffs' Antwerp studio. The church that this chapel belongs to has not been identified, but the painter has convincingly evoked the atmosphere of a chapel’s interior in the evening candlelight. The numerous figures were painted by a different artist, and do not have the same level of finish as the architecture.
A painting by Pieter Neeffs and Bonaventura Peeters, also in the National Gallery’s collection, shows a more elaborate follow-up to this scene, as a service is being performed: An Evening Service in a Church.
It seems a service is about to begin in this chapel: the two candles on the altar are being lit. The altar itself is adorned with a painted altarpiece, on which the holy family – Saint Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child – are just visible, painted loosely in blue and grey. An elaborate frame encloses the scene.
This church interior was painted in the Antwerp studio of Pieter Neeffs. The church that this chapel belongs to has not been identified, but the painter has convincingly evoked the atmosphere of a chapel’s interior in the evening candlelight. The numerous figures were painted by a different artist, and do not have the same level of finish as the architecture.
A painting by Pieter Neeffs and Bonaventura Peeters, also in the National Gallery’s collection, shows a more elaborate follow-up to this scene, as a service is being performed: An Evening Service in a Church.
