To travellers, the temples of ancient Greece and Rome, ruined or reused, were reminders of the glories of past civilizations. Temples and churches are usually the most prominent, and often the oldest, buildings in villages, towns and cities. They are thus significant features of townscapes of all places and periods, and so feature strongly in the work of the view-painters of Italy and the other countries on the route of the Grand Tour, like Canaletto, Guardi and Bellotto.
Church interiors are a distinct subject in seventeenth-century Dutch art, with specialist painters like Pieter Jansz. Saenredam and Peeter Neeffs the elder. Their bare, whitewashed interiors, stripped of their altarpieces, sculptures and wall paintings in the Reformation, make striking compositions, with tiny figures in dramatic perspectives.
