(Frankfurt/Main 1622–1674 Amsterdam)
An Italianate landscape with castle ruins and travellers on a road,
signed lower right: J. Lingelbach,
oil on canvas, 66.8 x 76.8 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, USA, until 2015

Johannes Lingelbach belonged to the so-called second generation of Dutch Italianate painters and is regarded as a particularly versatile painter. It is believed that he came to Rome in the late 1640s, having already learnt his trade in Amsterdam. Pieter van Laer (circa 1599–1642) was a Dutch painter who worked in Rome for more than a decade and was particularly influential on the work of Lingelbach. Van Laer was responsible for creating a new type of genre painting, which depicted Italian street life and is known as bambocciate after his nickname, ‘Il Bamboccio’. When Lingelbach later returned to Holland he was influenced by the works of Philips Wouwerman (1619–1668), whose equestrian scenes appear to have been particularly inspiring for the artist.

The present painting clearly draws on Lingelbach’s memories of Italy, even if it was likely to have been painted about twenty years after his return to Holland. The Italianate landscape depicted is typical of his later works, which were influenced by Wouwerman’s style and thus incorporated a more fluid technique and more elegant figure style than his earlier works. Even though the scene depicted is likely to have been imagined, rather than real, it successfully conjures up the rugged beauty and the golden light of Italy.