Bartholomeus van Bassen, 'Interior of St Cunerakerk, Rhenen', 1638
About the work
Overview
The church we are looking into here – the Cunerakerk – still towers above the small town of Rhenen in the Netherlands. Bartholomeus van Bassen was an expert in painting church interiors such as these, often adding inventive details, though he employed other artists to paint the figures.
The Cunerakerk was well known to medieval pilgrims as it held relics of the obscure but revered Saint Cunera. In the seventeenth century the church became the court chapel of the exiled Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, Frederick V, and his wife Elizabeth Stuart. Van Bassen, also a skilled architect, was asked to transform the adjoining convent of the Cunerakerk into a grand winter palace for the exiled royals.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Interior of St Cunerakerk, Rhenen
- Artist
- Bartholomeus van Bassen
- Artist dates
- active 1613; died 1652
- Date made
- 1638
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 61.1 × 80.5 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated and inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by F.A. White through the Art Fund, 1917.
- Inventory number
- NG3164
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.