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Lot Essay
Alongside Jan Asselijn and Nicolaes Berchem, Jan Both was among the most influential figures who made up the second generation of Dutch Italianate landscape painters. After training in Utrecht with Abraham Bloemaert and Gerrit van Honthorst, Both traveled to Italy in 1638 and, with his brother, Andries, settled in Rome, joining a thriving community of Dutch and Flemish painters working in the city. Following Andries’ death in Venice in 1642, Jan returned to Utrecht and established himself as a leading painter in the city, becoming the headman of the city’s painters guild in 1649.
This painting, bathed in late afternoon warm Italian light, is a quintessential example of the master’s work. Despite its status as an idealized view, the painting contains an intense sense of realism, no doubt based on studies Both made during his time in Italy. Only a singular dated landscape from Both’s time following his return to Utrecht is known – the Landscape with Mercury and Argos (Neues Schloss, Schleissheim). The lack of dated paintings aside, it has nevertheless proven possible to broadly reconstruct Both’s stylistic development. Here, Both’s use of framing trees in the foreground and a curving path that leads the viewer’s eye into the background are both generally believed to be hallmarks of the artist’s paintings dating to the early to mid-1640s.
This painting, bathed in late afternoon warm Italian light, is a quintessential example of the master’s work. Despite its status as an idealized view, the painting contains an intense sense of realism, no doubt based on studies Both made during his time in Italy. Only a singular dated landscape from Both’s time following his return to Utrecht is known – the Landscape with Mercury and Argos (Neues Schloss, Schleissheim). The lack of dated paintings aside, it has nevertheless proven possible to broadly reconstruct Both’s stylistic development. Here, Both’s use of framing trees in the foreground and a curving path that leads the viewer’s eye into the background are both generally believed to be hallmarks of the artist’s paintings dating to the early to mid-1640s.