Landscape with a Monastery
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 61 x 74 cm h x w x d: Ram 74 x 92 x 8 cm
Inventory numberNM 333
Other titlesTitle (sv): Landskap med kloster Title (en): Landscape with a Monastery
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 7: Technical notes: The support consists of a single piece of plain weave fabric with even and finely woven threads. The painting has been lined. Fragments of the original tacking edges have been preserved along the left side, top and bottom. Cusping is present on all four sides. Lining has caused some damage to the layer of paint. The support has shrunk causing wrinkling of the paint, mainly in the sky. The ground is whiteish and the imprimatura reddish brown, clearly visible in the sky. The paint layer is opaque. The figures in the foreground have been painted over the foreground. They are rendered simply. The palette consists mainly of earth pigments with traces of red and blue. In places the green of the foliage has changed to brown. Retouching has taken place along the tacking edges. Some crudely executed retouches in the sky. The figures are intact. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1929 and 1969 provenance: Martelli 1804, no. 191; KM 1816, no. 773. bibliography: Sander III, p. 109, no. 191 (as Orrizonte); NM Cat. 1867, p. 23 (as Jan Frans van Bloemen); Göthe 1887, p. 18; Göthe 1893, p. 23; NM Cat. 1958, p. 17 (as Jan Frans van Bloemen); NM Cat. 1990, p. 31 (as Jan Frans van Bloemen). For the provenance and history of this painting, see no. 6. The motif shows a landscape with a monastery surrounded by cypresses and pines. In the foreground a herdsman can be seen talking to a half-naked, seated man. Jan van Bloemen was the most productive of the artists that followed in the footsteps of Gaspard Dughet and continued the Roman landscape tradition into the 18th century. His palette, sombre to begin with, became lighter with time and the interplay of light and shade is one of his main themes. He rarely painted the figures himself but these were mainly the work of Placido Costanzi. The painting lacks a signature but Van Bloemen rarely signs his works and only two of them are dated. GCB [End] The motif shows a landscape with a monastery surrounded by cypresses and pines. In the foreground a herdsman can be seen talking to a half-naked, seated man.
Motif categoryLandscape
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword
External links