The Aurelian Walls and the Pyramid of Cestius, Rome

It is unlikely that Jan de Bisschop ever visited Italy. For his views in Italy, most of or near Rome, he presumably used prototypes by other artists like Jacob van der Ulft and Bartholomeus Breenbergh (cf. lots 390, 392, 396-398 in this sale), by whom he probably owned a number of drawings. Breenbergh may in fact have taught de Bisschop draughtsmanship. He also copied a picture of the Arch of Titus in Rome by Jan Both, now at Chatsworth, R. Jellema, M. Plomp, Episcopius, jan de Bisschop (1628-1671), lawyer and draughtsman, exhibition catalogue, Zwolle Amsterdam, 1992, p. 28, nos. 9 and 9.1. It is interesting to note that a number of de Bisschop's landscapes, both of Dutch and foreign views, are of similar format to the present lot, presumably all from the same sketchbook.
Another version of this drawing is in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, F. Lugt, Ecole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts, Inventaire Gnral des dessins des coles du Nord, Paris, 1950, no. 40.