Lot Essay
First published by Kultzen in 1996, the author pointed to the thematic and stylistic similarities between the present picture and those in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and the Melmeluzzi collection, Rome (op. cit., pp. 87-8, nos. 2 and 4), all three of which show artists sketching in the open air. Indeed this theme is one that appears in several other of Sweerts' pictures throughout his career; as Guido Jansen puts it: 'it is clear that Sweerts was captivated by the theme of the artist at work soon after his arrival in Rome - and it was a subject that continued to fascinate him all his life' (G. Jansen, in the catalogue of the exhibition, Michael Sweerts, Amsterdam, San Francisco and Hartford, 2002, p. 76).
Sweerts had established himself in Rome by 1646 when, at the age of 28, he was recorded as a catholic living with a fellow artist on the Via Margutta. The present work, like the Rotterdam picture, which is dated by Jansen to circa 1646-8, and another showing an Artist sketching by a Fountain, formerly in the Chigi collection, Rome, can be dated to Sweerts' early activity in Rome when he was strongly influenced by the work of the Bamboccianti.
Sweerts had established himself in Rome by 1646 when, at the age of 28, he was recorded as a catholic living with a fellow artist on the Via Margutta. The present work, like the Rotterdam picture, which is dated by Jansen to circa 1646-8, and another showing an Artist sketching by a Fountain, formerly in the Chigi collection, Rome, can be dated to Sweerts' early activity in Rome when he was strongly influenced by the work of the Bamboccianti.