View of the Campo Vaccino

landscape

This picture, the earliest dated painting by Poelenburgh, shows the cattle market held on the Roman Forum. Between the ruins of ancient buildings are traders with their cattle and a woman doing the washing at a public fountain from which cattle also drink. The Castel Sant'Angelo is recognisable in the background (which is in fact not visible from the Roman Forum).

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About the Artist

Cornelis van Poelenburgh

1594 – 1667

Dutch painter, mainly of landscapes. He studied in Utrecht with Bloemaert and from about 1617 to 1625 was in Rome becoming one of the leading members of the first generation of Dutch painters of Italianate landscapes. His paintings are typically small scale (he often painted on copper) with biblical or mythological figures set in Arcadian landscapes, sometimes scattered with antique remnants. They are strongly influenced by Elsheimer, but cooler in colour than the German artist's work and without his sense of mystery. After returning to Utrecht Poelenburgh enjoyed a career of great success. He was Rubens 's guide when he visited Utrecht in 1627, was popular in aristocratic and even royal circles (Charles I called him to England in 1637), and was imitated until the early 18th century. Sometimes he collaborated with Jan Both, in whose landscapes he painted the figures.

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