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Jan van der Heyden, 'A Square before a Church', 1678

About the work

Overview

Jan van der Heyden clearly enjoyed the discipline of painting very fine details. Although this is a very small picture, he has delineated many of the leaves of the trees individually. If you look closely at the grey roof of the church, you can see that he has used incredibly fine lines of black paint to suggest the patterns made by the tiles.

But he also seems to have enjoyed the challenge of depicting entirely imaginary buildings and townscapes and making them seem real. This picture is almost certainly an example of his inventive streak – a fantasy composed of elements of different buildings that he had seen during his travels in Germany and Holland. The architecture of the church is typical of the mid-sixteenth-century Gothic of northern Germany. The simpler brick building on the left is more Dutch in character. 

Key facts

Details

Full title
A Square before a Church
Artist dates
1637 - 1712
Date made
1678
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
21.8 × 28.9 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Bequeathed by Sir James Morse Carmichael, Bt, 1902
Inventory number
NG1915
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners

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.

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