Banquet at Night

Wolfgang Heimbach was one of the few important 17th-century painters in northern Germany. The charming and exciting atmosphere of this scene illuminated by strong candle-light is created by a magnificent juxtaposition of brightly lit and contre-jour (back-lit) elements. The tiled stove on the left, the Brussels tapestries on the walls and the wooden coffered ceiling provide the setting for the banquet. We know the identity of the impressive room: the apparently noble group has gathered in the Knights’ Hall of Vienna’s Hofburg Palace.