Neeffs, Pieter the Elder

Neeffs, Pieter the Elder (or Pieter Neefs) (b Antwerp, c.1578; d Antwerp, 1656/61).
Flemish painter, active in Antwerp. Most of his pictures are interiors of Gothic churches, some of them night scenes illuminated by artificial light. They are generally small, painted on copper, and executed in a precise, neat way—similar in style to those of the Steenwycks, but more mechanical. His son Pieter Neeffs the Younger (b Antwerp, 23 May 1620; d Antwerp, after 1675) painted the same subjects, and it is very difficult to distinguish between their hands. Another son, Lodewijk (b Antwerp, 22 Jan. 1617; d Antwerp, ?1649), was also a painter, but little is known of his work.