Joseph Maswiens - Interior Of Saint Gommaire Church In Lierre, Belgium

Joseph MASWIENS
Leuven, 1828 – Leuven, 1880
Interior of the Church of Saint Gommaire in Lierre, Belgium
Oil on canvas
64 x 52 cm (88 x 75 cm with frame)
Signed lower right “J. MASWIENS”
Beautiful 19th-century gilded wood frame decorated with pearl and laurel friezes
Very good condition

On view at the gallery

Joseph Maswiens was a Belgian painter ofchurch interiors from the Romantic period of the mid-19th century. He was a student of Jules Victor Génisson of the Antwerp School, who himself had been a student of the Van Brée brothers (Mathieu-Ignace and Philippe-Jacques), leading figures of Belgian Romantic painting.
Like Jules Victor Génisson, Joseph Maswiens settled in Leuven, where he primarily painted church interiors in that city as well as in Brussels, Liège, and Lier (Interior of Saint Gommaire, our painting).
His painting follows in the great tradition of 17th-century Flemish school church interiors, which skillfully combine delicate light with a remarkable sense of perspective and rich detail.
During the Romantic era, this theme experienced a renaissance with the rediscovery of historic monuments, which was one of the hallmarks of the Romantic style in painting. As the curator of the Victor Hugo House notes, “during his travels in Belgium, the writer often expressed his admiration for the local architecture (notably the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels or the Grand-Place), in direct response to his campaign to preserve Gothic heritage, which began with Notre-Dame de Paris.
The theme of church interiors also allows painters to play with light and chiaroscuro to create dramatic scenes in the Romantic style. But unlike troubadour art, which depicts dramatic historical events within an architectural setting, paintings of church interiors convey a peaceful and warm atmosphere, serving as a religious counterpart to the many dramas that have unfolded over the centuries in the secular world. This sense of refuge is also reminiscent of Victor Hugo’s great novel *Notre-Dame*, published in 1831, which enjoyed great popular success in both France and Belgium.
Saint Gommaire in Lierre, southeast of Antwerp, is one of the most beautiful churches in Belgium, with its Flamboyant Gothic architecture of Brabant, its numerous sculptures and paintings, and its magnificent rood screen. This rood screen was notably painted by the Scottish artist David Roberts in 1850 (now in the Wallace Collection in London) and is recognizable by its multi-lobed arches, its sculptures, and its distinctive tower overlooking it—all of which can be seen in our painting. Jules Victor Génisson, Joseph Maswains’s teacher, also painted an interior view of Saint Gommaire in 1851, showing yet another perspective of the rood screen.
In Joseph Maswains’ painting, the rood screen of the collegiate church of Saint Gommaire is viewed from the left aisle of the church—a perspective that allows one to see part of the church’s length, with its architecture, stained-glass windows, beautiful sculpture, and a magnificent gilded wooden hymnboard.