Interior of a Protestant, Gothic Church, with a Gravedigger in the Choir

Emanuel de Witte

1669

oil on panel

Rijksmuseum

A church interior with several figures, including a man with a dog in the foreground and a child with a broom. Sunlight streams in from the right, illuminating the stone floor and architectural details. The depiction of church interiors was a separate speciality. De Witte was one of the last 17th-century artists to concentrate on these perspectival masterpieces. This painting offers an oblique ‘through-view’ into a church. The columns in the foreground lead the eye into the distance. In the background the light falls on a gravedigger; it was customary for eminent citizens to be buried in churches.