Mathys Schoevaerdts

MATHYS SCHOEVAERDTS (ca. 1665/1667 - after 1702).
"View of the Milvian Bridge in Rome."
Oil on panel.
It has an informative label on the back.
Presents inscription on the back.
Measurements: 26,5 x 43 cm; 42 x 58 cm (frame).
Rural landscape with idealized nature in which a series of stone constructions and a water course stand out. The figures, in the foreground, appear in small size, in an important variety of postures and attires, accompanied by animals and horses. These architectures (especially the bridge and the circular building) make the viewer think of the Italian Ponte Lucano, located on the Roman Via Tiburtina, which connects the capital with Hadrian's Villa, despite the differences between the image presented here and the reality of the state of the construction at the time this oil painting would have been made.
Mathys Schoevaerdts, also known as Matthijs Schoevaerdts, was a Flemish painter who also produced engravings and drawings, and was appreciated for his landscapes with trees or forests, his seascapes and his genre scenes. He followed, at first, a style close to the tradition initiated by Jan Brueghel the Elder to, over time, go towards a greater closeness with the Italian school and end up under the influence of those known as "Bamboccianti" (Flemish and Dutch artists who worked in Rome the theme of landscape with Italian classicist ruins and harbors).
His landscapes are full of figures and anecdotes, with the same preference for light blues and greens of Brueghel the Elder at the beginning of his career. His work has often been attributed to his master and Pieter Bout because of the similarity in style and subject matter between the three. In addition, he often collaborated with his master and figures such as F. Dupont (1660-1712) or his brother Frans Schoevaerdts (active in Brussels in the early 18th century). Schoevaerdts makes individualized groups of figures, in which he frequently includes "exotic" elements (Turkish merchants), with generally imaginary landscapes, whether Flemish village scenes as "capriccios" or views of Italy.
Few data are preserved about his life: it is known that in 1682 he began his apprenticeship with Adriaen Frans Boudewijns; he was probably born in Brussels, as he was enrolled in the Brotherhood of Painters of St. Luke in that city between 1692 and 1692 as far as is known; he also spent time in the Dutch area and his last documented work is dated 1702, so he would die after this date but before 1712 (the year in which another document records him as already dead). Despite this short biography, his works were highly valued during his lifetime, and continued to be highly appreciated during the eighteenth century.
It is possible to contemplate paintings by the master only in some private collections, but also some institutions have his works: The Fitzwilliam Museum (University of Cambridge, England), British Museum of London, Museum of Fine Arts of Buenos Aires in Argentina, etc.