Classical landscape with figures and a village in the distance, signed at lower right: “H. Van Lint”, oil on canvas, 66.5 x 101 cm, framed

Provenance:
European private collection

The present signed work by van Lint can be compared to a number of paintings by the master that were influenced by the idealized landscapes of Claude Lorrain.

Van Lint was one of the most accomplished landscape painters working in Rome in the first half of the 18th Century. He was born in Antwerp and travelled to Rome in 1700, where he joined the large community of Northern artists living in the city. The young van Lint may have worked in Vanvitelli’s studio, and he admired Claude Lorrain. He executed imaginary landscapes inspired by Claude combining elements that he observed in nature during his frequent expeditions to the countryside around of Rome, adding ruins and classical buildings to his compositions.

In particular, the present painting closely resembles two pendants (see A. Busiri Vici Pieter, Hendrik e Giacomo Van Lint, Rome 1987, no. 194 and no. 195, p. 167; Rome, private collection, 48 x 72 cm and formerly Milan, Galleria Guglielmo Canessa, 49 x 73 cm).

The present composition shows a similar organization of the space with a clear distinction of the planes from the foreground to the horizon. The trees on the left and the group of figures in the centre of the composition replicate the ones in View with a River, a Bridge and a Classical Building (see A. Busiri Vici, op. cit., no. 195), while the classical circular temple and the small amphitheatre inspired by the Colosseum on the top of the hill are integrated in a similar form in numerous other canvases (see Busiri Vici, op. cit., nos. 207, 208, p. 174, no. 147, p. 204).

We are grateful to Professor Giancarlo Sestieri for confirming the attribution after examining the painting in the original.