PIETER NEEFS THE ELDER (Antwerp 1578 / 1590 – Antwerp 1656 / 1661)
An Evening Mass with Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella Thought to be in Attendance
signed and inscribed above the painting over the altar:
PEETER. NEFS / DEN.TWEEDEN. / PATER NOSTER,
and dated on the coat of arms on the column in the center right 1612
oil on panel
14 1/2 x 12 5/8 inches (36.8 x 32.1 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Heidelberg, Germany, by December 1950
Anonymous sale, Parke – Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, November 23, 1966 lot 45, withdrawn (as by Pieter Neefs the Younger)
Anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, New York, October 7, 1994, lot 34 (sold for $90,500) where purchased by
Otto Naumann, LTD., New York, from whom acquired by
Private Collection, Washington, D.C., February 1995, until the present time
Pieter Neefs the Elder is presumed to have been born in Antwerp the son of Aart Neefs, a silk merchant and innkeeper, and Margareta Verspreet. He was the half-brother of the engraver Jacob Neefs. Although Neefs’ early training is undocumented, it is believed that he worked closely with Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger as well as to some degree with his father Hendrick van Steenwyck the Elder, as their influence on his work is unmistakable. A church interior dated 1605, his earliest known work, is in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden (inventory no. 1183). In 1609 he became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp.[1]
Our panel dated 1612 stems from a year of significant changes in the artist’s life. He married Maria Lauterbeens with whom he had five children. Two of his sons, Lodewyck and Pieter the Younger, were also artists and who most closely assimilated his style. The same year he took on Lauwereys de Carter as an apprentice, of whom very little is recorded. Strangely, except for a brief notation in 1612 stating that Neefs owed money to the Antwerp Guild, a drawing of Bonn Cathedral dated 1617, a church interior from 1619, and our painting, there is very little else known until the 1630’s. Afterwards production flourished and Neefs along with his sons “must have had an active studio”.[2]
Neefs’ oeuvre is almost entirely devoted to church interiors, but he painted at least one exterior scene, a few Liberations of St. Peter, and at least one work depicting Baal’s priests consuming offerings.[3] Although Neefs did paint his own staffage, he is known to have collaborated with Jan Brueghel I, Gonzales Coques, Frans Francken II, Frans Francken III, Hieronymus Janssens, Bonaventura Peeters, Adriaen van Stalbemt, David Teniers the Younger, Theodoor van Thulden and Sebastiaen Vrancx.[4]
In Antwerp during the first half of the seventeenth century paintings of church interiors proved immensely popular.[5] The setting of a gothic church at night with its intricate architectural details and varying floor levels, which in turn created dramatic contrasts of light and dark set in a non-symmetrical format, produced a truly innovative pictorial composition. The high vantage point and subtle coloration advanced the resounding feeling of otherworldliness. Other nocturnal scenes by Neefs can be found in the Uffizi, Florence; two in the National Gallery, London; the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; and two in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.[6]
This panel depicts an evening mass being held in a side chapel of a large church or cathedral. Neefs who was a Roman Catholic[7] after signing his name above the altar followed it with the inscription DEN.TWEEDEN. / PATER NOSTER. This is a reference to the second part of the Pater Noster (the Lord’s Prayer) which is composed of seven petitions, the first three draw the worshiper toward the glory of God, and the last four pray “for the needs of our life for both our body and our soul”.[8] The painting which was certainly a commercial venture, must also be viewed as a testament to the artist’s faith.
The officiating priest at the top of the altar is dressed in gold and white vestments. “Normal liturgical colors for vestments are red, rose, purple, green, white, and black. Gold can be substituted for red, white, or green. The colors are worn during specific seasons of the liturgical year. The altarpiece with its nativity scene . . . suggests perhaps this might be a vigil (mass held at night usually before a feast day) during the Christmas season when white is worn.” Portrayed is the holiest moment of the mass as the standing priest is shown in the act of consecration.[9]
The richly attired attendees are displayed in various stages of attentiveness to the service. Typical of these scenes are the beggars seeking alms just inside the church entrance.[10] As shown here, Neefs often included dogs inside the church. A page holding a lantern and a dwarf resplendent in a red and white costume stand nearby. Dwarfs often accompanied leading notables of the period as they were regarded as status symbols; here believed to be alerting the viewer to the presence presumably of Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella who stand to the right of the alter. They presided as regents of the Spanish Netherlands from 1598-1621. [11] Upon Isabella’s arrival at the court in Brussels, she began collecting dwarfs. Found during travels in their new territories, parents of dwarfs were typically paid a few dozen guilders for their children. Some Isabella kept, others were sent to her brother King Philip III (more than 100 dwarfs formed part of the Spanish court), as well as gifted strategically. Dressed in precious clothing, displayed in processions, and used as entertainment in a variety of ways during parties and feasts, little mention is made of payment for their efforts.[12]
Although such practices are abhorrent today, for an Antwerpian of 1612 they would have been aspirational. By the sixteenth century Antwerp was the leading commercial and financial center of Europe, a power which it maintained through the middle of the seventeenth century. It further held a leading role in the art world. Paintings in Antwerp were regularly purchased by both the upper and middle classes. Collecting came to be closely associated with the aristocracy, even if one had a mercantile background. Thus, it was viewed as a “noble activity” and art collecting took on a symbolic dimension.[13]
In this panel the painter has included the highest echelons of society in a glittering setting at the most dramatic moment of the mass during the Christmas season. An early work from Neefs, executed during a period of surprisingly little production, it was naturally meant to be impressive. From a number of documents, including one of the same year this work was executed, monetary concerns were always an issue. Yet the overriding spirituality of the artist cannot be denied, borne out by a career devoted to such imagery. In remarkable state, this work in essence has it all.
We are extremely grateful to Dr. Cheryl K. Snay of the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame and Jeremy Howarth, author of The Steenwyck Family as Masters of Perspective for their invaluable assistance in the writing of this entry.
[1] Biographical information taken from Jeremy Haworth, The Steenwyck Family as Masters of Perspective, Brepols, Turnhout, 2009, p. 8; “Peeter Neefs the Elder”, National Gallery of Art, www.nga.gov; and “Pieter Neefs (I)” on rkd.nl (RKD Explore) website.
[2] Howarth, op.cit., pp. 86-87; and “Pieter Neefs (I) rkd.nl., op.cit.
[3] Howarth, op.cit., p. 85.
[4] Jan de Maere et al., Illustrated Dictionary of 17th Century Flemish Painters, volume 2, Brussels, 1994, p. 848; and
Frans Boudin, “Neefs”, Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press, 2016.
[5] Hans Vlieghe, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585 – 1700, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1998, p. 200.
[6] Howarth, op.cit., pp. 49-51.
[7] Written communication with Jeremy Howarth dated March 30, 2021.
[8] “Our Father: The Last Four Petitions”, on Sophia Institute Press, sophiainstituteforteachers.org.
[9] Written communication from Dr. Cheryl K. Shay, Curator of European and American Art before 1900, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, dated March 17, 2021.
[10] Howarth, op.cit., p. 49.
[11] On the probability that the figures are Albert and Isabella, Jeremy Howarth wrote on March 30, 2021: “The presence of the dwarf in the foreground lends credence to this hypothesis as leading notables at the time were often accompanied by a dwarf, who denoted their status. … The two figures to the right of the altar appear to be standing in a privileged vantage point and it is very possible that they are depictions of the joint Governors of the Hapsburg Netherlands, Albert & Isabella, who ruled the Netherlands at a momentous time in the history of the Netherlands between 1598 and 1621. In 1612 Albert would have been 53 and Isabella 46 and these ages would appear to be approximately consistent with those shown in the painting.”
[12] Johan Verberckmoes, Laughter, Jestbooks and Society in the Spanish Netherlands, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1999, p. 170; and Ria Hörter, “Dogs and Dwarfs” on riahorter.com, April 2017.
[13] Bert Timmermans, “Networkers and Mediators in Seventeenth Century Antwerp Art World: the Impact of Collectors – Connoisseurs on Artistic Processes of Transmission and Selection” in Luxury in the Low Countries, Pharo Publishing, Brussels, 2010, pp. 111-112, 114.