The watermill or the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, and A classical river landscape with figures on a path and a palace in the distance

Born in Antwerp, Hendrik Frans van Lint worked under Pieter van Bredael before settling in Rome in 1710, where he established himself as a leading painter of vedute, acquiring the nickname 'Lo Studio'. He played a prominent role in artistic life in Rome, where he lived on the via Babuino, collaborating with eminent artists of the time and becoming a member of the schildersbent, a group of northern painters in the city. He also joined the Congregazione Artistica dei Virtuosi al Pantheon from 1744, before being elected Rector in 1755.

As well as vedute, van Lint also painted numerous Arcadian landscapes inspired by Claude Lorrain, for whom he held deep admiration (see A. Busiri Vici, Peter, Hendrik e Giacomo van Lint. Tre pittori di Anversa del '600 e '700 lavorano a Roma, Rome, 1987, pp. 162-199). The depiction here of the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca is directly modelled on Claude's composition of 1648 in the National Gallery, London and on the closely related version in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome. Van Lint does not replicate here all the figures that appear in Claude's composition, but would later revisit the subject, producing a larger version of the landscape in 1737. The second picture here, another version of which van Lint painted in 1721, which was formerly with Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, features a palace in the left background that resembles the Palazzina Algardi in Villa Doria Pamphilj.