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Lot Essay
In 1674, shortly after being enrolled as a full master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp, van Bloemen departed for Rome, where he would remain until 1694. In due course he was joined by his two younger brothers Jan Frans (1662-1749), who arrived in 1689, and Norbert (1670-1746), who joined them in 1690. All three brothers were active members of the Dutch and Flemish painters' confraternity in Rome, the Schildersbent, whose members gave Pieter his nickname of 'Standaart' on account of his fondness for including flags and banners in his paintings of soldiers. Like his fellow Northerners, van Bloemen took full advantage of the learning opportunities offered by the ruins and landscapes of Rome, collecting his drawings in sketchbooks and albums such as the bound collection of 255 drawings offered in these Rooms on 2 July 2013 and now in a private collection. The present drawing was traditionally given to his brother Jan Frans, but the style and the use of fluid grey wash is entirely characteristic of Pieter and is very close to the technique of the landscape drawings in the aforementioned album.
In the present drawing van Bloemen takes as his subject a relief from the interior north face of the triumphal Arch of Titus: the emperor is shown in the aftermath of his campaign against Jerusalem, mounted in a quadriga with Victory crowning him with laurels (Fig. 1). The same relief was drawn, from a slightly more oblique angle and further away, by Jan Asselijn (Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. P 094; Drawn to Warmth, exhib. cat., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2001, p. 106, fig. H). The drawing bears an old inscription ‘Onghers’, which may refer to one of two Flemish artists with this surname: Jan Onghers (1656-1735) and Oswald Onghers (1628-1706). However, neither of them went to Italy and there is no reason to doubt the stylistic association with Pieter van Bloemen's work.
In the present drawing van Bloemen takes as his subject a relief from the interior north face of the triumphal Arch of Titus: the emperor is shown in the aftermath of his campaign against Jerusalem, mounted in a quadriga with Victory crowning him with laurels (Fig. 1). The same relief was drawn, from a slightly more oblique angle and further away, by Jan Asselijn (Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. P 094; Drawn to Warmth, exhib. cat., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2001, p. 106, fig. H). The drawing bears an old inscription ‘Onghers’, which may refer to one of two Flemish artists with this surname: Jan Onghers (1656-1735) and Oswald Onghers (1628-1706). However, neither of them went to Italy and there is no reason to doubt the stylistic association with Pieter van Bloemen's work.