(Antwerp 1662–1749 Rome)
An Arcadian summer landscape,
oil on canvas, 71.5 x 137.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Borghese Collection, Rome;
sale, Borghese Palace, Rome, 28 March 1892, lot 68;
Private European collection

Literature:
G. Giacomini, Catalogue des objets d'art et d'ameublement qui garnissent le grand appartement au premier étage du palais du Prince Borghese à Rome, Rome, 1892, cat. no. 68

We are grateful to Francesco Petrucci for confirming the attribution of the present painting.

Until 1892, the present painting was installed in the Palazzo Borghese, where it had probably arrived during the artist’s lifetime. Jan Frans van Bloemen belonged to a largefamily of Flemish artists, further prominent members of which were his brothers, Pieter and Norbert. Jan Frans was first trained by Pieter and then by Antoine Goubau and travelled to Rome via Lyon. In Rome he was given the nickname ‘Orizzonte’, due to his extensive and atmospherically charming landscapes of the Roman Campagna rendered in brilliant colours. Although he was under the protection of the powerful Colonna and Borghese families, his career was negatively affected by an enduring conflict between the artist and the Accademia di San Luca, the reason of which has remained unknown. Although he was one of Rome’s most successful landscapists, he was only admitted as a member when he applied for the third time at the age of eighty.

Carlo Maratta, Placido Costanzi, and Pompeo Batoni painted the figural staffage for his landscapes, which developed from an idealised and heroic type inspired by Gaspar Dughet to a more realistic approach, for which the artist relied on Andrea Locatelli, Giovanni Paolo Panini, and Paolo Anesi. It has not been possible to identify the artist who painted the elegant figures in the present landscape. Bloemen is considered the painter of some of the most outstanding works of the Roman school of landscape painting, which is known for its intense colours and classically elegant compositions. The present painting doubtlessly numbers among these highly felicitous compositions in the artist’s oeuvre, which is not least underscored by its provenance from one of the most important Roman collections.


Additional image:
The Palazzo Borghese in an engraving of Alessandro Specchi