HENDRICK VERSCHURING? (Gorinchem, 1627 - Dordrecht, 1690) Fantastic View of Rome with the Dioscuri Oil on canvas, 81X133 cm Provenance: Cologne, Lempertz, 11-13 June 1969, lot 96 (as Hendrick Verschuring) Cologne, Kunsthaus Museum, 24-27 October 1984, lot 979 (as Johannes Lingelbach) Hendrick Verschuring was a pupil of Jan Both, a landscape painter from Utrecht (ca. 1615-1652) and like his master travelled to Rome for the first time in 1647 and stayed in Italy for around five years (Houbraken 1719, p. 194), also visiting Florence and Venice. The Italian experience, especially the light and landscape, is reflected in his paintings, as is the inspiration drawn from the works of Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668), which can be seen by looking at the battle scenes in particular. In 1649, we know that the artist was in Paris and then returned to Rome with the son of the mayor of Amsterdam, Joan Huydecooper, and remained in the Eternal City until 1652. This information, therefore, indicates that the work under examination was executed in Rome and is one of the few that has come down to us, referable to this time. His Capitoline production, however, was not exclusively for the battalion. The artist also devoted himself to depicting popular Roman life in the manner of the Bamboccianti, and some works offer a vedutistic slant, such as the canvas depicting Campo Vaccino sold at Christie's in London on 17 April 2002, lot 53. The painting under examination depicts a scene in which classical vestiges are evident quotations and we can recognise the sculptures of the Dioscuri in the background. Reference bibliography: A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 1718 ; 1721, vol. 2 (1719), pp. 131, 193-196, 231, vol. 3 (1721), p. 274, 291 (as: Hendr. Verschuuring, Hendrik Verschuring) https://archive.org/details/grooteschouburgh02houb/page/194/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theatre G. Sestieri, I Pittori di battaglie, Rome 1999, pp. 625-626 W. W. Robinson, The Abrams Album: An Album Amicorum of Dutch Drawings from the Seventeenth Century, Master Drawings 53, s. l. 2015, p. 3-58