Giacomo van Lint Rome 1723 - 1790

Giacomo van Lint, son of the painter Hendrik Frans, also earned his reputation as a vedutista, painting detailed topographical views of Rome in the manner of his father and of other contemporaries such as Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli. This charming view of the Ponte Rotto exists in another version, of larger dimensions and conceived as a pendant to a View of the Basilica of Maxentius, in a private collection in Rome (see A. Busiri Vici, Peter, Hendrik e Giacomo van Lint, Rome 1987, p. 285, cat. no. 332, reproduced). The staffage is different in each version but the viewpoint and inclusion of bathers in the foreground are the same. The handling of water, not dissimilar to that in Vanvitelli's own paintings, is very close to that in Giacomo's View of the Ponte Sisto, also in a private collection in Rome (Busiri Vici, op. cit., p. 286, cat. no. 334, reproduced).