Gerard Houckgeest, 'Interior of a Church', possibly 1644

We stand inside a church, although it is not clear which one. The picture can be attributed to Gerard Houckgeets, a pupil of Bartholomeus van Bassen. He specialised in painting fictional architecture early in his career, but then switched to painting existing church interiors. He is best known for these later works, in which he often introduced an oblique viewing angle and paid special attention to the daylight coming in through the church windows. This is an early example of his work, the fictional church interior still reminiscent of those by his master, Bartholomeus van Bassen.

This painting was previously attributed to Pieter Neeffs the Elder, whose name appears at the bottom of a lengthy inscription above the lavish tomb on the right, together with the date 1644. This signature has since been identified as a forgery, although the date might be accurate; its placement might have been prompted by the sumptuously dressed man pointing his cane towards the inscription, one of a number of figures animating the scene, together with multiple dogs.