Christ with Nicodemus
Hendrick van Steenwyck the younger (Antwerp c.1580 - Leyden 1649)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1649
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
130 x 210 mm
Place of origin
Holland
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486225
Caption
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, the council of Jews in Jerusalem, came to Jesus by night to receive teaching. He was taught, amongst other things, about the need for spiritual rebirth through baptism. The biblical incident is, however, a subsidiary motif. The artist’s interest is centred upon painting a perspectival interior, with figures and still-life, lit by artificial light.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Christ with Nicodemus by Hendrick van Steenwijck the younger (Antwerp c.1580 - Leyden 1649), signed: H.V.STEENWYCK. A fire and candlelit interior scene set in a panelled room, with a fireplace on the right and two seated figures; A woman is standing, on the left-hand side, next to a flat tub and vegetables. In the centre background, in an inner room, Christ is seated at a table expounding to Nicodemus.
Provenance
Acquired by the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) in Brussels or Antwerp in 1752. Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
H.V.STEENWYCK
Makers and roles
Hendrick van Steenwyck the younger (Antwerp c.1580 - Leyden 1649) , artist