*This painting is sold but the artist is regularly available in our inventory		Daniel de Blieck* c. 1600 - Middelburg - 1673 A Gothic Church Interior Oil on panel 7 3/4 x 7 inches (19.7 x 17.8 cm), Signed and dated: D.D.B. 1654 Trained as an architect, Daniel de Blieck began his career in the 1650s, painting primarily church interiors.  His activity was not confined to painting but extended to providing designs to stonemasons for architectural elements and sculptures, inventing plans for machine works and even supervising construction projects.  Records of the artist's birthdate are lost but he may have been nearly twenty when he joined the guild of Middelburg in 1647-48.  Unlike many of his architectural painting contemporaries in the Netherlands, de Blieck usually painted his own figures. It is most likely that the example in our painting is a fantasy church but it is conceivable that it was based on a real church since the artist had by 1655 already depicted existing interiors.  Our church portrays a transept portal framed by exquisitely rendered paired marble columns which support a vaulted ceiling; through this dramatically presented entry,  the nave is visible.  The sweeping space is bathed in brilliant light entering through the right side windows and highlighting the archways, columns and the upper register of Gothic windows.  One column carries a small triptych while others are hung with smaller plaques of devotional scenes.  The altar is visible below an elaborate triptych, framed by marble pilasters with scrolling capitals.  The triptych depicts three figures which are shown on either tapestries or paintings; the striking hue of the guilt wood frames enclosing the side panels is cleverly echoed by the large candlestick set on the alter.  Our painting is dated 1655, the decade, which produced de Blieck's earliest known works.