JAN FRANS VAN BLOEMEN, CALLED ORIZZONTE | A PAIR OF CAPRICCI DEPICTING COUNTRY SCENES WITH FIGURES

Charles Grice-Hutchinson (d. 1949), The Boynes, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, by 1896;

Thence by descent until sold, Prinknash Abbey Park, Chorley's, 19 May 2015, lot 647.

"Van Bloemen's paintings are a homage to the Roman countryside. In this pair the higlight for me is the way the Colosseum pokes through the trees, luring us towards the centre of Rome."

Edoardo Roberti

After completing his apprenticeship with Anton Goubau in Antwerp, Jan Frans Van Bloemen set out on the long journey through France bound for the Eternal City where he arrived in 1688. Van Bloemen’s prolific output of landscape scenes enjoyed huge success in Rome, and he counted among his patrons members of the Rospigliosi and Pallavicini families. This success earned him a place among the Virtuosi of the Pantheon in 1714 and as of 1742 admission to the Accademia di San Luca. He would remain in Rome for the rest of his life. Van Bloemen’s landscapes are permeated with a serene, classical atmosphere and should be considered continuations of the landscape tradition launched in Rome by Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet during the 17th century. It was because of the clear light, and striking chromatics which always characterise his skies that his contemporaries nicknamed him Orizzonte, meaning ‘horizon’.