An Italian landscape with herdsmen

Contemporary biographies of Karel du Jardin provide conflicting details of his youth. He was born in Amsterdam, and may have studied with either Nicolaes Berchem or Paulus Potter. He spent the 1640s and 1650s in Rome, where he entered the most elevated artistic circles and was sought after by both Italian and English cognoscenti. By 1656 du Jardin was back in The Hague, serving as commissioner of the Guild of Saint Luke. In 1659 he moved to Amsterdam, where he established himself as a painter of Italianate landscapes, genre scenes and portraiture. In 1672 du Jardin returned to Italy and died in Venice in 1689. Johannes Lingelbach was among his most talented pupils.