* Jan Frans van Bloemen, called l'Orizzonte called Orizzonte Antwerp bapt 1662 - 1749 Rome

The present pair of paintings are characteristic works by Jan Frans van Bloemen, called Orizzonte (1662-1749).  A native of the Flemish city of Antwerp, van Bloemen moved to Rome with his brother Pieter (also an artist) and joined the “Schildersbent” or cofraternity of Northern artists working and living in Rome.  As part of his initiation, he was given the nickname “Orizzonte” or “horizon” in Italian, in honor of his facility in painting large, sweeping landscapes. Van Bloemen became a very successful artist and was patronized by local Italian collectors (the Doria-Pamphilij family of Rome, for example, were avid collectors of his work and some 20 works by the artist are still in Palazzo Doria-Pamphilij today).  Foreign visitors to Rome also collected his canvases, and sent them home, particularly British tourists who delighted in his work.   The most common subject of van Bloemen’s works are idealized, arcadian landscapes.  These were much in the tradition of the earlier 17^th Century as examplified by Gaspard Dughet and other artists who drew on the local Roman Campagna and the classical past as inspiration.  Van Bloemen overlaid his native Flemish traditions onto this Italianate form, and produced works of scintillating charm and beauty.