Jan Frans van Bloemen, called Orizzonte

With Adolphe Stein Gallery, Paris, by 1974;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 7 July 2000, lot 225;

Acquired subsequently by the present owner.

A. Busiri Vici, Jan Frans Van Bloemen. Orizzonte e l'origine del paesaggio romano settecentesco, Rome 1974, p. 100, no. 130, reproduced in colour fig. 105.

This luminous and broadly executed landscape has been described by Andrea Busiri Vici as a small jewel, 'da considerare anche per piacevolezza e chiarezza, un suo capolavoro'.¹ Another, slightly larger version of this composition, painted on paper and including a reclining figure in the right corner, is in the Musée Magin, Dijon.² Busiri Vici suggests that both works may be preparatory bozzetti for a larger, more finished composition.

¹ Busiri Vici 1974, no. 130: 'to be considered one of his masterpieces for its delightfulness and clarity'.

² Inv. no. 1938 E 133; oil on paper laid down on canvas, 26 x 37 cm.; https://agorha.inha.fr/ark:/54721/f4987fc0-0911-470d-8d89-86d6bc84aa4f