The English Church in The Hague

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Netherlands
    City: The Hague
    Place: British Embassy

    Gerrit van Giessen’s view of ‘The English Church in The Hague’ shows the congregation leaving the church, while a carriage races past in the foreground. The first pastor of the English Church was the Reverend John Wing (died c.1629), from Banbury in Oxfordshire. Wing was installed in 1627 and reportedly preached to Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of King James I, during his time at The Hague.

  • About the artist
    Little is known about the 18th-century Dutch printmaker and artist Gerrit van Giessen.
    Draughtsman and engraver Jan Caspar Philips was born in Germany but later settled in Amsterdam, where he took on his nephew, engraver and architectural historian Caspar Jacobsz Philips (1732-1789) and engraver Simon Fokke (1712-1784) as pupils. Philips executed views of Versailles and the Bastille, as well as an illustration to Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. He also contributed engravings to Jan Wagenaar's ‘Hedendaagse Historie’ (published 1738-58). In 1743 Philips engraved the portraits of 30 Dutch Mennonite ministers, including Menno Simons, and these were published in Amsterdam in 1743 by Kornelis de Wit under the title ‘Verzaameling van Afbeeldingen van Doopsgezinde Leeraaren’. Philips died in Amsterdam at about the age of 85.
  • Explore
    Places
    Netherlands
    Materials & Techniques
    engraving
  • Details
    Title
    The English Church in The Hague
    Date
    Medium
    Engraving
    Acquisition
    Origin uncertain
    GAC number
    15528