Jan Frans van Bloemen (circle) Belgian, 1662-1749

Jan Frans van Bloemen (Antwerp, Belgium 1662 - Rome, Italy 1749)

From his hometown in Antwerp, he travelled to Rome in 1686, after a brief stay in Paris with his brother Pieter, also a painter.

Fascinated by the beauty of the city and its surroundings, he was a frequent visitor to the Roman countryside, Colli Albani and Tivoli area. He created numerous paintings inspired by the seventeenth-century painter Gaspard Dughet, becoming his faithful follower. As such, he became one of the most sought-after landscape painters in all Europe. The interest in this genre and the large number of works produced determined van Bloemen's fortune.

His patrons included many prominent collectors of the time, including the Pallavicini and Rospigliosi families and Pope Benedict XIV in addition to the Grand Tour travellers, members of the most cultured aristocratic classes, both Italian and foreign, who travelled to Rome for pleasure or educational purposes.

He died in Rome in 1749.

Photo UniCredit Group (Sebastiano Pellion di Persano)