(Antwerp 1684–1763 Rome)
A classical landscape with figures seated before a tempietto,
signed and dated lower right: Enrico van Lint . Studio . F. / Roma 1748,
oil on canvas, 48 x 72 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European Collection since the mid-19th century and thence by descent;
sale, Sotheby´s London, 7 December 2005, lot 52;
Private collection, Bavaria

The present painting is an exceptionally fine example of van Lint’s 'Claudian' landscapes, certain figures and architectural motifs of which are repeated in other compositions by the artist. The tempietto, for example, seems to have been one of Van Lint’s favourite features for his classical scenes: it reappears in another painting sold as part of a pair at Sotheby’s, 8 July 1999, lot 79, as well as in his Classical landscape with women riding horses where there is a similar sweeping vista and river to the left of the composition (reproduced in colour in A. Busiri Vici, Peter, Hendrik e Giacomo van Lint, Rome 1987, pp. 192-3, cat. no. 234). Other variations of it reappear in numerous 'Claudian' landscapes, such as that signed and dated 1744 formerly with Agnew’s in London (Busiri Vici, op. cit., pp. 178-9, cat. no. 215, reproduced). The standing male figure holding a bundle appears in the same pose in two other 'Claudian' paintings by van Lint, of similar dimensions (ibid., p. 167, cat. nos. 194 and 195, both reproduced). The female reclining in the lap of another also reappear in other painted compositions by Van Lint; one formerly in Stuttgart and another formerly in a private collection at Castelgandolfo (ibid., pp. 212-3, cat. no. 256, and p. 228, cat. no. 273, both reproduced in colour).

Although van Lint frequently employed collaborators to paint the figures in his paintings, those in the present canvas are most probably by his own hand. Their long linear forms and decorative classicism have much in common with those of Claude Lorrain and it is quite possible that van Lint chose to paint them in a style homogeneous with the landscape settings they find themselves in.

A native of Antwerp, van Lint moved definitively to Rome in circa 1710 and joined the confraternity of Northern painters working there, called the Schildersbent. He soon earned his nickname 'Lo Studio' due to the painstaking precision with which he rendered both the figures and architecture in his paintings, and he often included his pseudonym when signing his works (as the present work). As well as painting topographical views of the sites and monuments of Rome van Lint specialised in painting overtly classical subjects with bacchanals, gods and goddesses set in arcadian landscapes which are heavily inspired by Claude Lorrain.