A capriccio of an Italianate harbour capriccio with the Arch of Constantine and a church with figures, shipping beyond

Jan Abrahamsz. Beerstraten was the most important of a family of artists from Amsterdam, best known for their depictions of winter townscapes, southern seaports and battle scenes. He might have been a pupil of Claes Claesz. Wou (1592-1665), a marine painter in the Flemish tradition; however, his southern ports, such as the present work, were influenced by the works of Dutch Italianate artists like Nicolaes Berchem and Jan Baptist Weenix. Beerstraten's ports are all imaginary, sometimes with a well-known northern European building incorporated on the seashore; the present work is highly unusual in depicting a Roman building. It is not known whether he went to Italy, although in his paintings the southern light seems to be accurately conveyed, as in the Capriccio of a harbour with the façade of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome of 1662 (formerly known as the Port of Genoa; Paris, Louvre). For these Italian subjects he may have copied drawings given to him by Johannes Lingelbach, who occasionally painted the figures in Beerstraten's compositions.