NEEFFS, Peeter the Younger
(b. 1620, Antwerpen, d. ca. 1675, Antwerpen)

Interior of the Antwerp Cathedral

1660s
Oil on canvas, 49 x 65 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

The monumental, seven-nave Cathedral of Antwerp (built between 1352 and 1500) was considered the most beautiful late-Gothic church in the southern Netherlands. This cathedral was a constant incentive to the architectural painters of Antwerp, who produced ever new variations on the theme, selecting different angles of vision and different times of day and night.