Pieter Neefs I (Antwerp 1568/88-1656/61) and Frans Francken II (Antwerp 1581-1642)

An architectural painter from Antwerp, Neefs became a member of the city's Guild of Saint Luke in 1609. He spent the early part of his career under the influence of Hendrick van Steenwijck the Elder and his son Hendrick van Steenwijck the Younger, whose works Neefs copied for example in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden. In his Golden Cabinet of the noble art of painting of 1661, biographer Cornelis de Bie celebrated Neefs for his depiction of churches, praising in particular his representations of pillars, doors, portals and altars. He wrote that looking at his paintings produced the sensation of being in a church (C. de Bie, Golden Cabinet, Antwerp, 1661, p. 155). The elements praised by De Bie can all be found in the present church interior, which holds a strong resemblance to the Antwerp Cathedral, but, like most of Neefs' works, contains elements of architectural fantasy. A similar collaborative work by Neefs and Francken, of the same composition, but with slight variations to the architectural and figural detail, was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 28 January 2010, lot 278 ($86,500).