(Antwerp 1662–1749 Rome)
Arcadian landscape with three figures in the foreground and a hill top town beyond; Arcadian landscape with four figures in the foreground and a hill top town beyond,
oil on canvas, 75 x 99.5 cm and 73,5 x 97.5 cm, framed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
Sale Christie’s, Paris, 26 June 2008, Lot 32
European Private Collection

We are grateful to Giancarlo Sestieri for confirming the attribution after examining the paintings in the original.

Jan Frans van Bloemen is documented to have been in Rome from 1688, soon after relocating along with his older brother Pieter from France. The present pair of paintings is typical of his landscape paintings, which were influenced by his frequent trips to the countryside of Lazio. Nevertheless the influence of his Flemish background is still recognizable in the meticulous definition of the details, together with stylistic influences from artists such as Dughet and Claude Lorrain, as well as Jacob de Heusch together with his main competitor for the leadership of the genre in Rome, Andrea Locatelli.

Jan Frans’ characteristic scenes are prevalently suspended between mythology and reality, in a timeless atmosphere, evoking the myth of Arcadia in the distant wake of Claude Lorrain. He evoked an idealistic vision inspired by a close relationship with what was to be represented, although it was then re-elaborated in the privacy of his studio, and often preceded by observations which had been recorded on the scene.

The built-up area with walls on the hill recalls the countryside in the north of Rome. The painting can be compared to a similar landscape in the Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome (see A. Busiri-Vici, Jean Frans van Bloemen “Orizzonte”, Rome 1974, no. 65), dated 1715-20, which suggests a similar date for the present picture. Another comparable landscape is in Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst (see A. Busiri-Vici ibid., 1974, Nr. 68).