Hendrick at the Lourve

The Hendricksen family at the entrance to the Louvre Museum getting ready for a marathon museum afternoon.

The title is not a typo - I did not miss off the end of our family name, instead I am referring to a painter who prior to this week's visit to the Louvre, I didn't know anything about.  His full name is Hendrick II van Steenwyk, He was born in Antwerp, Belgium, where he spent most of his life, except for a period when he moved to London.  When I looked on the internet for more about this artist I didn't find much until I discovered that his name is spelled both with a "ck" at the end or simply a "k" (the Louvre exhibit used the spelling above).  Here is an article on this artist I found on Wikipedia, and a different article with a little more information.

The reason I am even writing about this artist is because his painting was the one I enjoyed the most in the whole of the Louvre Museum.  Anna was right, the museum was overwhelming after a while, endless paintings, mostly religious, mythological, or portrait in nature.  The Louvre has many little side rooms, and it is a bit like a maze.  I almost by accident walked into one of these little side rooms in this maze and stopped short... here was a painting so unlike most of the other paintings that I was surprised to find it was painting between 1610 and 1620.  The painting is called "Intérieur d'église" which was inspired by the interior of Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Anvers (the Cathedral in Antwerp).

Intérieur d'église by the Belgian artist Hendrick II van Steenwyk

I think why I like this painting so much is because of its realism and its wonderful use of light and shadow.  I enjoy architecture photography, so it should be no surprise that I would enjoy architecture painting.