The Nave and Choir of the Mariakerk in Utrecht

Pieter Jansz Saenredam (signed by artist), 1641-01-29

In the young Dutch Republic only Reformed Protestant services were still held in the former Catholic churches. Statues and paintings of saints were prohibited. The 11th-century Mariakerk preserved the decorations of the piers, which Saenredam here rendered in great detail – even applying gold leaf. At the left visitors look at an image of a bull on one of the piers: according to legend, this column continued to sink during construction until it was grounded on a bull’s hide.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-851
  • Dimensionssupport: height 121.5 cm x width 95 cm, outer size: depth 7.3 cm (support incl. frame)
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • The Nave and Choir of the Mariakerk in Utrecht, Seen from the West
    • The Nave and Choir of the Mariakerk in Utrecht
  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-851

  • Description

    Het middenschip en koor van de Mariakerk te Utrecht, gezien vanuit het westen. Bij het koorhek en links bij de zuil met de schildering van de stier lopen enkele bezoekers. Links twee spelende honden.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    • inscription, lower right, above the signature: ‘Dit is de Mariae kerck / binnen uijttrecht’
    • date, lower right: ‘[...] voleijndicht den 29. Januarij / int Jaer 1641.’
    • inscription, on the column at the left, below the image of a bull: ‘accipe posteritas quod per tua [secula narres] / taurinus cutibus fundo solid[ata collumna est]’
    • signature, lower right: ‘Pieter Saenredam, ghemaeckt.’
  • Part of catalogue


Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Pieter Jansz Saenredam (signed by artist)

  • Dating

    1641-01-29

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on panel

  • Dimensions

    • support: height 121.5 cm x width 95 cm
    • outer size: depth 7.3 cm (support incl. frame)

This work is about

  • Person

  • Subject

  • Place

  • Period

    1640 - 1641


Acquisition and rights

  • Copyright

  • Provenance

    ? Commissioned by or for Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687), Plein, The Hague; ? his son, Constantijn Huygens II (1628-97), with the house on Plein, The Hague;{Leerintveld 1988, p. 100.} ? his son, Constantijn Huygens III (1674-1704), with the house on Plein, The Hague;{Leerintveld 1988, p. 101.} ? his mother, Susanna Rijckaert (1642-1712), with the house on Plein, The Hague;{Leerintveld 1988, p. 101} ? her sister-in-law, Susanna Huygens (1637-1725), with the house on Plein, The Hague;{Leerintveld 1988, p. 101.} her sale, Voorhout, The Hague, sold on the premises, 6 November 1725, no. 83 (‘Noch een Perspectieff door den zelve, verbeeldende de Sta. Maria Kerk te Utrecht, van binnen te zien, drie voet tien duim en een half hoog, drie voet en een half duim breedt’), ? bought in; ? her daughter, Philippina Doublet (1672-1746), wife of Constantijn Huygens IV (1675-1739), with the house on Plein, The Hague;{Leerintveld 1988, p. 101.} ? her daughter, Susanna Louisa Huygens (1714-85), with the house on Plein, The Hague;{Leerintveld 1988, p. 103.} ? purchased by Jacob Verheije van Citters (1753-1823), with the house on Plein, 12 February 1787;{Leerintveld 1988, p. 106.} purchased by Jonkheer Johannes Goldberg (1763-1828), with the house on Plein, The Hague, 15 April 1800;{Van der Haagen 1928, p. 37.} description of his house on Plein, The Hague, 1827, as ‘het inwendige der Mariakerk te Utrecht, door P. Saanredam’;{Transcribed in Van der Muelen 1889, p. 76.} purchased by the State, with the house on Plein, The Hague, 5 January 1829;{Van der Muelen 1889, p. 72.} transferred to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague (inv. no. 115), 1874; transferred to the museum, February 1885; on loan to the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, February 1924-17 July 1936


Documentation


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