Voor- en zijaanzicht van een altaar, Grave 1857 - 1859

Pierre Joseph Hubert Cuypers made this pencil drawing titled 'Voor- en zijaanzicht van een altaar, Grave'. Cuypers lived during a time of religious revival and national identity formation in the Netherlands. As a prominent architect, he played a significant role in shaping the visual landscape of the country through his neo-Gothic designs. This drawing of an altar reflects the broader cultural and political context of 19th-century Europe, in which the relationship between church, state, and society was being renegotiated. Cuypers’s work embodies the search for a distinctly Dutch identity rooted in its medieval past, while at the same time affirming the place of Catholicism in the face of Protestant dominance. In its architectural form, it represents a complex interplay of religious, national, and artistic ideals.