Circle of Hendrik Frans van Lint, (Antwerp, 1684 - Rome, 1763), City view with river, boats and bridge in the background

Circle of Hendrik Frans van Lint, (Antwerp, 1684 - Rome, 1763) City view with river, boats and bridge in the background Oil on panel, 14 x 20.5 cm With frame, 21 x 27.5 cm The Flemish Hendrik Frans van Lint (Antwerp, 1684 – Rome 1763), nephew of the Antwerp-born vedutista Peter (Antwerp, 1609 – 1690) and father of Giacomo (Rome, 1723 – 1790), although born in Flanders and having conducted the first part of his training there, appears known above all for his activity in Italy: the Dutch painter specialized in Rome in the genres of landscape and veduta. The Roman sojourn represented for van Lint, as for many other Nordic artists residing in the Eternal City between the 17th and 18th centuries, an indispensable premise for updating his art and expanding his clientele. Hendrik Frans, a landscape and veduta painter, stayed in the papal capital for two-thirds of his life: here his son Giacomo was born, who followed in his father's footsteps by creating almost exclusively views of Rome. In the Eternal City Hendrik Frans, known mostly in Italy as "Lo Studio", became an emulator of the Dutch vedutista Gaspar van Wittel, known in Italy mainly by the pseudonym Vanvitelli, and created Roman and Lazio views and landscapes of particular fantasy, following the "ideal" and "classical" poetics of the 17th-century painting of Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet. This type of production, entirely destined for the market, became standardized in the last years of the artist's activity, who loved to portray both the glorious remains of ancient Rome and the new monuments of modern Rome. Van Lint's works can be globally classified into two categories: idealized and Arcadian landscapes populated by a vast array of picturesque figures and purely topographical and highly realistic views: the follower of van Lint who creates this beautiful City view with river, boats and bridge in the background is certainly inspired by this second strand of the production of the artist originally from Antwerp. The representation of the landscape put into practice by the artist is lenticular and absolutely devoid of idealization: the painter presents a glimpse of the city of Antwerp, also showing the harshest aspects of the reality of the time, in which noble palaces and hardworking boatmen coexist with the indigent and situations of degradation. Some of the most distinctive buildings of the city are clearly visible, including the Heet Steen, or the defensive fortress, the bridge over the Scheldt River, and the cathedral with its soaring bell tower.