Interior of the Laurenskerk at Rotterdam (Framed)

Seen from behind, a man's arm curves possessively around the waist of his female companion. A refined woman dressed in fashionable seventeenth-century Dutch clothing walks down the aisle of the church with her greyhound in tow. In this interior scene, Anthonie de Lorme depicted the pulpit section of the middle nave of the Laurenskerk (Church of Saint Lawrence) in Rotterdam. Warm sunlight floods the church and illuminates the soaring beauty of the Gothic architecture. The clear, precise lines of the composition and the relative austerity of the setting were typical of Dutch Protestant church interiors after the Council of Trent. In effect from 1545 to 1563, the Council aimed to reform the excesses of art in the Roman Catholic Church.

The visitors seen here, dressed both in elegant clothes as well as peasant costumes, were probably painted by the Dutch artist Ludolf de Jongh, who was also active in Rotterdam at this time.