The Arch of Constantine, Rome

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Van Lint’s painting depicts the triumphal arch that was dedicated by the people of Rome to the Emperor Constantine in AD 315. It is the largest surviving classical arch and was a popular motif in vedute, or topographical views, as well as capricci. Van Lint’s painting focuses on the ruins of the arch and the activities of people around it. These paintings found a strong market among the Grand Tourists who visited Italy, and were often incorporated into decorative schemes in country houses once the purchasers returned to Britain.

Hendrik Frans van Lint was one of a number of northern European artists working in Rome in the eighteenth century. He was born in Antwerp in 1684 to the artist Pieter van Lint, who had worked in Rome in the 1630s. Hendrick entered the studio of Pieter van Bredael in 1697and went on to spend the rest of his life living and working in Rome.

Places

Italy, Rome: Arch of Constantine, Rome: Via Sacra, Rome: Arch of Titus, Rome

Subjects

horseback, topography, genre, tree, horse, man, woman, child, road, monument, house, ruin, archway, column, pillar (architectural feature)

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Hendrik Frans van Lint (1684 - 1763)

Title

The Arch of Constantine, Rome

Date

c. 1730-1750

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 68.50 cm, width: 116.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased 1948

GAC number

577