Pieter van Bloemen

He was in 1684 in Lyon in the company of the Dutch painters Adriaen van der Cabel and of Gillis Weenix.

Via Turin, Pieter and Jan Frans travelled on to Rome where in 1688 they were registered in the parish of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte.

[4] Pieter became a member of the Bentvueghels, an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome.

[1] Pieter returned to Antwerp in 1694 and Norbert left for Amsterdam before 1724, while Jan Frans remained in Rome for the rest of his life.

[3] He carried on the tradition of Italianizing landscape paintings of the Roman Campagna representing inns, ruins and animals.

[5] A portion of his output paintings also stand in the tradition of the 'bamboccianti', a group of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome whose small works depicted trivial or base subjects.

[6] Particular features of his style were his depiction of groups of animals as ‘still-lifes’ in open, Italianate landscapes containing some ancient monuments to convey the ‘Roman’ atmosphere and the use of lively colouring in the figures’ costumes so as to contrast with the more sombre greys and browns of the herds and ruins.