Vagabonds playing skittle, among classical ruins in an Italianate landscape

The Haarlem painter Pieter van Laer travelled to Rome in 1625, where he stayed until 1639, when he returned to his native town. In the fourth decade of the 17th century he introduced a new type of painting depicting Roman low life, which was called (after his nickname Bamboccio) Bambocciade. Although many of his scenes are set in towns, Van Laer is also important as one of the leading personalities of the second generation of Italianate landscape painters. His sunlit landscapes with ruined architecture and Bambocciante figures, of which