Pieter Saenredam

Pieter Jansz. Saenredam
Pieter Saenredam in 1628 by Jacob van Campen
Born	9 June 1597 Assendelft
Died	31 May 1664(1664-05-31) (aged 66) Haarlem
Nationality	Dutch
Parent(s)	Jan Pietersz Saenredam

Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (9 June 1597 - buried 31 May 1665) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors.

Saenredam was born in Assendelft, the son of the Northern Mannerist printmaker and draughtsman Jan Pietersz Saenredam whose sensuous naked goddesses are in great contrast with the work of his son. In 1612 Saenredam moved permanently to Haarlem, where he became a pupil of Frans de Grebber. In 1614 he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. A painting in the British Museum by his friend Jacob Van Campen shows him to be very short and hunch backed. He died in Haarlem.

He was a contemporary of the painter-architects Jacob van Campen, Salomon de Bray, and Pieter Post.

Saenredam specialized in the representation of church interiors. These pictures were based on precise measurements of the building and meticulously-rendered sketches, done on site, in pencil, pen, and chalk, after which washes were applied. Painting took place in the studio, often years after the studiee were made. started to create his paintings, often after a delay of many years.

His emphasis on even light and geometry is brought out by comparing his works with those of the rather younger Emanuel de Witte, who included people, contrasts of light and such clutter of church furniture as remained in Calvinist churches, all usually ignored by Saenredam. Unlike de Witte's, Saenredam's views are usually roughly aligned with a main axis of the church.

Saenredam's paintings frequently show medieval churches, usually Gothic, but sometimes late Romanesque, which had been stripped bare of their original decorations after the iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation. Although Utrecht was the centre of the remaining Catholic population of the mainly Calvinist United Provinces, all the old churches were retained by the Protestants. The drawing for Saenredam’s Interior of St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht (above) is typical. As a Catholic church the Cathedral had been highly decorated. Then, in the Dutch Revolt the church fell into Protestant hands, it was ‘cleaned’ of Catholic influences. The altarpieces and statuary were removed, and the walls and ceiling were white washed.