A pair of Landscapes Showing Travellers

A pair of landscapes showing travellers resting beside a cascade,

and a shepherdess tending her flock in a grove of trees

Oil on canvas: 29 1/8 x 38 1/8 in. 74 x 98 cm.

37 x 46 7/8 in. 94 x 119 cm. framed

In early eighteenth century carved wood Salvator Rosa frames

Provenance: Italian private collection

Professor Giancarlo Sestieri has kindly indicated that these landscapes are early works by Jan Frans van Bloemen, executed soon after his arrival in Rome in the 1680’s. In contrast to Professor Busiri Vici, who often saw a collaboration between Jan Frans and his brother Pieter at this stage of their careers before the latter left Rome in 1692, Professor Sestieri considers them to be wholly by Jan Frans, who would also have painted the figures. He makes a comparison with the series of “Propoganda Fide” landscapes in Busiri Vici’s monograph on the artist, in particular nos.4-7, which have similarly executed figures, white horses and sheep.

This impressive pair of campagna scenes are infused with the spirit of Salvator Rosa, with their turbulent atmosphere and repertory of cascades, rocky outcrops and menacing skies. There is Rosa’s dramatic atmosphere present, a certain sturm und drang which is also echoed in the contemporary landscapes of Gaspard Dughet, the brother-in-law of Nicholas Poussin. The facture of our paintings reflects the influence of Dughet too, in the broad execution of foliage, carefully delineated fronds and fluidly executed figures. This tradition was continued by Jan Frans van Bloemen,who would have absorbed the work of these masters during his first formative years in Rome. He later lightened and enriched his palette, creating idyllic views which, although still broad-brush in execution, exude a sunny serenity and classical mood in contrast to the more romantic spirit of his earlier works.

The pictures are in excellent condition, having been relined some years ago, and they carry near contemporary frames of the Salvator Rosa type.