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Lot Essay
Jean Lemaire was known as Le Gros Lemaire, to distinguish him from his younger brother, called Le Petit Lemaire (1612-1688). After studying with Claude Vignon, Lemaire was in Rome by 1613 and by 1624 he was sharing quarters with Nicolas Poussin from whom it might be said that he derived his own characteristic way of painting. There is imaginary architecture in the works of Poussin dating from 1630-35, and it is likely that the master made use of his young compatriot as his assistant in several paintings, as for example in the Plague of Ashod, in the Louvre, Paris.
The present archeological fantasy represents a Rome of all marble, imaginary rather than real. The portico in the foreground is an exact copy of the lower portion of the Porta dei Leoni in Verona which is copied by Lemaire in five different compositions, including vedute paintings in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Musée des Beaux Arts, Montreal. The monumental circo in the background with the broken obelisk (possibly by Bernini for the Piazza Navona) appears to be an exact copy of the Circo di Massenzio in the Via Apia. Lastly, the statue of the reclining water God on the right in the middleground is an exact copy of Il Tigri, now in the Museo Pio-Clementino, Rome.
The present archeological fantasy represents a Rome of all marble, imaginary rather than real. The portico in the foreground is an exact copy of the lower portion of the Porta dei Leoni in Verona which is copied by Lemaire in five different compositions, including vedute paintings in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Musée des Beaux Arts, Montreal. The monumental circo in the background with the broken obelisk (possibly by Bernini for the Piazza Navona) appears to be an exact copy of the Circo di Massenzio in the Via Apia. Lastly, the statue of the reclining water God on the right in the middleground is an exact copy of Il Tigri, now in the Museo Pio-Clementino, Rome.