Getty Museum
The Crypt of a Church with Two Men Sleeping
Creator
Hendrick van Steenwijck the YoungerFlemish Artist · 1580–1649
All works by this person →Hendrick van Steenwijk the Younger's early style resembled that of his father, an architecture painter. He likely spent several years in Antwerp, though he apparently was not enrolled in its painters' guild. Van Steenwijk's architectural interiors of this period are frequently populated with figures by Jan Brueghel the Elder and other Flemish painters who worked in Antwerp. In 1617 van Steenwijk s
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- possibly 1625
- Medium
- Pen and dark brown ink, brush with brown wash, graphite, heightened with white gouache,, on tan paper
- Culture
- Flemish
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
In the dimly lit crypt of a church, two soldiers lie sleeping on either side of a chest. A single candle lights the vaulted interior, illuminating the arches and the square tiles of the stone floor. Another flame glimmers weakly, visible through a darkened archway in the background and casting a small glow over a staircase. Hendrick van Steenwijck employed these contrasts of light and darkness to play with the viewer's sense of perspective. Using strong *chiaroscuro,* he guided the viewer's eye around the scene, from the brilliant glow of the column and ceiling in the middle, back through the arch to the stairs, and finally to the dark interior beyond. Various gradations of light also emphasize the room's tones and textures. Candlelight shows off the joins in the masonry, as well as the cracks in the ceiling, the wood panels in the door, and the gleaming folds of the guard's cloak.
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