Hendrik Frans van Lint, called Lo Studio

Ryde Estate, no. 18 (according to a label on the reverse);
With Galleria Gasparrini, Rome, 1966 (according to labels on the reverse);
Andrea Busiri Vici collection, Rome.

Rome, Galleria Gasparrini, Vanvitelli ed altri vedutisti, 1 - 20 December 1966.

A. Busiri Vici, Giovanni Battista Busiri, vedutista romano del '700, Rome 1966, p. 139, reproduced figs. 229 and 230;
G. Scalisi, "La Tomba di Nerone", in Lazio ieri e oggi, February 1982;
A. Busiri Vici, Peter, Hendrick e Giacomo van Lint, Rome 1987, pp. 96-97, cat. nos. 84 and 86, reproduced.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. Both original canvases have been lined and the surfaces are in a stable condition. The compositions are painted over a red ground and in some areas this ground colour shows through the thinned paint layer . Restoration to reduce this is evident; under U-V light these retouchings can be seen along with the remains of a patchy varnish. The foregrounds on both paintings are thin but there is less retouching here. Both have moderately discoloured varnishes."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

It is unlikely that the monument said to be the tomb of the legendary Horatii and Curiatii brothers was erected in their honour. The two sets of brothers were protagonists of the war between Rome and Alba which Corneille made famous in his Horace of 1640.  Given that the mausoleum was built during the republican period, in the first half of the first century B.C. when the Roman establishment was trying to distance itself from its despotic kings of the past, it is more likely that the mausoleum was built by a local family to honour its dead. A preparatory drawing for the painting is in Berlin, Staatliche Museen, and another drawing of the tomb, probably done in situ by Van Lint, was formerly with Agnew's.¹

The tomb of Vibius Marianus is known as the Tomba di Nerone because during the Middle Ages a Roman tomb found there was thought to be that of the Emperor Nero. Due to the association with Nero, reknowned for his supposed cruelty, the monument had a bad reputation and any unfortunate events which occurred in the area were attributed to it. The monument was built in the third century A.D.  and was dedicated by Vibia Maria Maxima to her father Vibius Marianus. Its finely decorated reliefs show the horse-tamers Castor and Pollux, the demi-gods who protected Rome.

1.  See Busiri Vici, under Literature, p. 96, cat. no. 85, and p. 97, cat. no. 87, both reproduced.