An atmospheric light, something characteristic of Emanuel de Witte’s many church interiors, falls on the congregation gathered in Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk to hear a sermon. De Witte started his career as a figure painter but became a master of this genre, in which architecture and the effects of light play an important role.
There’s a slightly subversive detail in the foreground of this otherwise tranquil environment: two dogs sniff at each other, and the bigger one lifts its hind leg to urinate. The city of Amsterdam employed so-called ‘hondenslagers’ or ‘hondenmeppers' to keep dogs out of churches, to stop them disrupting services with behaviour like this. The congregation in de Witte’s picture, however, does not seem to have been disturbed – people listen to the preacher and study their Bibles.
An atmospheric light, something characteristic of Emanuel de Witte’s many church interiors, falls on the congregation gathered to hear a sermon. De Witte started his career as a figure painter but became exceptionally skilled in painting the interplay of light and architecture, especially in his church interiors. De Witte painted many churches while working in Alkmaar, Delft, Rotterdam and lastly Amsterdam, where he painted this view of the nave and north aisle of the Oude Kerk (Saint Nicholas Church).
The congregation has gathered to listen to the preacher, who stands on the pulpit, facing the crowd and us, theatrically raising his left arm. De Witte here seems to have taken as much delight in painting the figures as he did in painting the building’s architecture. The crouching mother attentively reading the Bible while her son looks on is a good example – her collar just catches the light, as does the elegant clothing of the man stood with his hand on his hip.
The church organ, which is visible here behind the pulpit, was renovated between 1658 and 1659. This painting was likely made afterwards (the organ appears in its previous state in one of de Witte’s paintings dated to 1654). The large church windows neatly divide the composition into three compartments. The stone tracery in the upper parts of these windows contain stained glass, and the centre panel of the middle window displays Amsterdam’s coat of arms: a red shield and a black pale with three silver Saint Andrew’s crosses. The other stained-glass panels depict heraldry that is less easily recognisable. Outside the windows, de Witte has painted the silhouettes of buildings and trees with great effect. In The Interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, during a Sermon, de Witte has depicted this view from the other side of the church.
There’s a slightly subversive detail in the foreground of this otherwise tranquil environment: two dogs sniff at each other, and the bigger one lifts its hind leg to urinate. The city of Amsterdam employed so-called ‘hondenslagers’ or ‘hondenmeppers' to keep dogs out of churches, and the behaviour of these dogs is an example of why. The congregation in de Witte’s picture, however, does not seem to have been disturbed – people listen to the preacher and study their Bibles.
