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Johannes (Jan) Weissenbruch (1822-1880)
The church of St. Lawrence, Rotterdam. Signed J. Weissenbruch f. Panel, 24.5 × 33 cm.

The Hague, Mesdag Museum, inv.nr. 336. Purchased by H.W. Mesdag for two hundred guilders at sale van de Heuvell et al., The Hague (Boussod), 16 November 1897, lot 89.

In 1863, the artist displayed a larger version of this scene, on canvas, at the annual Exhibition of Living Artists. That work, for which the panel in the Mesdag Museum appears to be a study, is said to have been painted about 1846. That would place the origin of this painting before the restoration of the church in 1853-1863.

The Sint Laurenskerk is the main church of Reformed Rotterdam, as it was that of Catholic Rotterdam before the Reformation. Its tower, begun in 1449, was completed in 1620 according to new designs by Hendrick de Keyser, but had to be demolished in 1645 on account of structural weakness. A few years later the rebuilt tower, in a breathtaking operation, was set up straight after it had leaned three-and-a-half feet to the northeast during a heavy storm. In the German bombardment of Rotterdam on May 14, 1940, the church was burnt out, but remained standing. Its restoration after the war was a symbol of Rotterdam's resuscitation.

Hazewinkel 1975, pp. 1040-1042. Van Schendel 1975, p. 170.