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Delft school (i).
Name given to the Dutch painters active in Delft in the second half of the 17th century who specialized in either realistic architectural paintings or genre scenes. Before c. 1650 there was no coherent group of painters in Delft; each artist specialized in his own genre. However, in the late 17th century, the city became the centre of a remarkable artistic flowering that included both these genres, each of which attained special distinction. Gerrit Houckgeest, Hendrick van Vliet and Emanuel de Witte concentrated from 1650 onwards on the depiction of the interiors of Delft churches, frequently taking the mausoleum of William of Orange, in the Nieuwe Kerk, or the grave of Piet Heyn in the Oude Kerk as their subjects. In most of these works the vanishing-point is no longer located on the central axis, but instead to one side, thereby creating a more natural viewing angle. There is a more illusionistic character to these paintings than is found in those of Pieter Saenredam, who had first introduced the genre. De Witte, in particular, excelled in his control of chiaroscuro effects.
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