The Interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam

Emanuel de Witte and Pieter Saenredam (1597–1665) are the most important seventeenth-century painters of church interiors, a significant genre in Dutch art. The two artists nevertheless approached their subjects in radically different ways. Saenredam had a scientific, almost archaeological interest in a building's structure, as seen in his Cathedral of Saint John at 's-Hertogenbosch (1961.9.33). De Witte, on the other hand, employed figures and contrasts of light and shadow to establish the mood and to emphasize the spiritual function of the church.

Most of De Witte’s churches can be identified as buildings that still dominate the cityscapes of Delft and Amsterdam, yet in his paintings he often combined architectural elements in imaginative and fanciful ways. The Interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam is one of his most imposing works, not only because of its unusually large scale but also because of the impressive view it offers down the long nave. The painting is boldly executed, with dramatic light streaming across the composition. Numerous figures enliven the space, including a procession of soberly clad men who have entered the church at the far left to attend a funeral and the two gentlemen in the foreground who discuss the tomb from which the stone has just been lifted. In juxtaposition to the tomb, De Witte uses a beam of light to draw our attention to a mother nursing her child, thereby suggesting the cycle of life and death.

De Witte was born in Alkmaar but trained with the still-life painter Evert van Aelst (1602–1657) in Delft. He began his career as a painter of biblical and mythological subjects (mostly night scenes). Around 1650 he started to specialize in architectural paintings of Delft churches. In 1652 he moved to Amsterdam, where he specialized in church interiors, but also painted market scenes and portraits.