Interior of a Gothic Church (Milan)
| Object type | Painting |
| Genre | Staffage in Church Interior |
| Date | 1586-1609 |
| Dimensions | 32 x 42 cm |
| Support | Panel |
| Medium | Oil |
| Signature | H. V. STEENWYCK 1586 |
| Collaborators | Hendrick van Steenwyck the Elder Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger |
| Collaborator notes | Either the Elder or the Younger |
| Collectors/patrons | Federico Borromeo |
| Our attribution | Jan Brueghel the Elder |
| Other authorities | Ertz 2008-10, #594 Ertz 1979, #175 |
| Location | Milan, Italy |
| Collection | Ambrosiana |
| Accession numbers | inv. #73 |
| Tags | Dog, Church, Van Steenwyck, Painting Within A Painting, Burghers, Children, Interior Scene |
| External resources | Ambrosiana |
Letter to Borromeo of March 6, 1609: Jan has bought a painting by Steenwyck "io farra in ditto quadret alcun figurini."
In a letter to Borromeo of 27 April 1609 Jan writes that he's about to send Borromeo a "quadro de perspettiuo" by Steenwijck in which "gli figurini ho fatto al modo mio: mia moglie et doi figlioli ho fatto al natural" (Crivelli p.147) We assume that means woman in foreground, his wife Caterina who he married in 1605. The children would be Jan the Younger and Passchasia.
Pijl also says that original figures were repainted by Jan--you can still see some that he painted out.(yes, where dogs are now there was a woman)
Ertz and others have called this "Antwerp Cathedral" but Pijl says you can't say that, you can't identify architecture or decoration.
1586 is year that Steenwijk moved to Frankfurt so this could have been painted there or in Antwerp.The original painting was done by Hendrick van Steenwyck the Elder in 1586; it is dated at the lower center. Brueghel painted in the figures and sold it to Borromeo in 1609.
I have seen this painting. It is not in great condition and has been somewhat abraded. Figures in the foregound have been painted out or overpainted; Howarth speculated that these might have been figures by Steenwyck. You can also see a lot of Steenwyck's underdrawing, a very complete perspective system with possibly a pin indentation?