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Lot Essay
Hendrick Frans van Lint was one of the most talented and in demand painters of vedute during the first half of the eighteenth century. Born in Antwerp, where he trained for a period under Pieter van Bredael, he made his first trip to Rome in 1700 when he was just sixteen, before returning in 1710 to settle in the city and make his career there. For a newly arrived artist from the north at the time, it would have been relatively easy to feel a sense of belonging in Rome, with so many compatriots in the city. By the time of van Lint’s arrival, the renowned Bentvueghels (society of Dutch and Flemish artists), or Schildersbent (painters’ clique), as they were also known, was well established, and it is quite probable that he met, or even trained with, Gaspar van Wittel (1653-1736).
Van Lint’s views of Rome were extremely popular. He painted ancient monuments, countryside vistas and river views across the city, but it was his scenes on the Tiber, such as this, that allowed for a greater opportunity to explore narrative details, together with the different effects of light and colour. This view is taken from the central stretch of the river looking south from the bank opposite San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, with Castel Sant’Angelo behind and the Vatican out of view to the right. Busiri Vici commented on the high quality of the figures and noted that this picture, together with its original pair, being a view looking north from the Ponte Rotto (op. cit., p. 90, no. 76), may originally have formed a pendant to a pair of earlier views of Venice, dated 1723, depicting Santa Maria della Salute and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore; they not only share the same provenance, but are of identical dimensions (ibid., p. 80).
In 1518 the Florentine Pope Leo X de’ Medici (1513-1521) ordered a competition for the rebuilding of a church dedicated to San Giovanni on the site of the old church of San Pantaleo. Although the commission was awarded to Jacopo Sansovino, the construction was executed initially by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, and largely completed from 1583-1602 by Giacomo della Porta. The high altar chapel, commissioned by the Florentine Orazio Falconieri, was completed in 1667 by the great Baroque architect Francesco Borromini, who is buried under the church’s dome.
Van Lint’s views of Rome were extremely popular. He painted ancient monuments, countryside vistas and river views across the city, but it was his scenes on the Tiber, such as this, that allowed for a greater opportunity to explore narrative details, together with the different effects of light and colour. This view is taken from the central stretch of the river looking south from the bank opposite San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, with Castel Sant’Angelo behind and the Vatican out of view to the right. Busiri Vici commented on the high quality of the figures and noted that this picture, together with its original pair, being a view looking north from the Ponte Rotto (op. cit., p. 90, no. 76), may originally have formed a pendant to a pair of earlier views of Venice, dated 1723, depicting Santa Maria della Salute and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore; they not only share the same provenance, but are of identical dimensions (ibid., p. 80).
In 1518 the Florentine Pope Leo X de’ Medici (1513-1521) ordered a competition for the rebuilding of a church dedicated to San Giovanni on the site of the old church of San Pantaleo. Although the commission was awarded to Jacopo Sansovino, the construction was executed initially by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, and largely completed from 1583-1602 by Giacomo della Porta. The high altar chapel, commissioned by the Florentine Orazio Falconieri, was completed in 1667 by the great Baroque architect Francesco Borromini, who is buried under the church’s dome.