Groote Kerk te Rotterdam, 1737

About the Work

Abraham de Haen, a pupil of Cornelis Pronk, concentrated his artistic efforts entirely on historical edifices, which he usually identified precisely in the accompanying captions. In this case the inscription not only names the main motif, the Grote Kerk (Big Church) in Rotterdam. It also informs us that the artist had sketched the building on site in 1733 and carried out this atmospherically lit scene, complete with secondary motifs – boats, the neighbouring house and figures rendered in careful detail – in 1737.