Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet

For about 20 years Hendrick van Vliet was a portrait painter in Delft. He trained with his uncle Willem van der Vliet, joined the city's painters' guild in 1632 and learned the portrait trade from Michiel van Mierevelt, the favourite portraitist of the House of Orange. Then, around 1650, Delft painters found a new subject. Gerard Houckgeest painted the tomb of William of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt, inside the Nieuwe Kerk, seen at a slant between the columns, and buyers wanted more.

Van Vliet turned to church interiors and stayed with them for the rest of his life. He painted the two great churches of Delft, the Oude Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk, again and again, filling their whitewashed naves with strollers, children and dogs. Among his other subjects was the Pieterskerk in Leiden, the great Gothic church of the university town.