Hendrik Frans van Lint

Hendrik Frans van Lint (26 January 1684; 24 September 1763) was a Flemish landscape and vedute painter who was part of the group of Flemish and Dutch painters active in Rome. He was one of the leading landscape painters in Rome in the first half of the 18th century and his patrons included Rome's old aristocratic families as well as European travellers on their Grand Tour.

Life Hendrik Frans van Lint was born in Antwerp, the son of the history painter Pieter van Lint and his second wife Anna Moeren (Moren or Morren). As his father died when he was only 6 years old van Lint became in 1696 an apprentice of Peeter van Bredael, a painter of Italianate landscapes. Van Lint did not stay to complete his apprenticeship but left for Rome somewhere between 1697 and 1700. Here he would stay for the remainder of his life except for a short visit to Antwerp in 1710 after the death of his mother.

In 1697, van Lint joined the Bentvueghels, an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists working in Rome. It was customary for the Bentvueghels to adopt an appealing nickname, the so-called 'bent name'. Van Lint's bent name was: studie (in Dutch) or lo studio (and even 'Monsú Studio') (in Italian). This nickname may have been given him because of his meticulous technique, which relied on extensive preparatory work and studies. He was in the habit of making detailed drawings in pencil, pen and wash, often in situ. He would frequently go on expeditions lasting up to a few weeks to the countryside around Rome. On these expeditions he was sometimes accompanied by the Dutch painter Theodoor Wilkens. Van Lint would use his preparatory studies to develop full-scale compositions on canvas and often added ruins and classical buildings to create his elaborate imaginary landscapes. The couple had 10 children, one of whom called Jacob or Giacomo van Lint (Rome, 1723 – 1790) also a became a vedute painter.

Van Lint appears to have moved in the circle of the Dutch vedute painter Gaspar van Wittel, known in Rome as ‘il Vanvitelli’. Van Wittel had settled in Rome in 1675 where his topographical views had made him one of the most feted artists of his generation. Van Lint possibly worked in van Wittel's workshop to assist the aging artist in the completion of his many commissions. The Congregazione was a corporation of artists who organised annual exhibitions of their own paintings on the metal railings in front of the Pantheon. Van Lint probably also worked as a picture restorer. It has been suggested that this was the year in which he left van Wittel's workshop to strike out on his own. Like Lorrain, van Lint paid particular attention to the trees in his compositions. His wide open compositions are imbued with silence and invite contemplation. It has been argued that van Lint adapted Lorrain's style to 18th-century taste by using paler and clearer tones, prettier colours and sharper handling. In his topographical views van Lint was first directed by his experience working for van Wittel. His earliest topographical views (vedute dal vero) of Rome included sweeping panoramic views of the city from many different approaches and locations. Eventually he painted everything worth seeing in Rome which resulted in many views of similar subjects such as the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, the Pyramid of Cestius, and the Baths of Diocletian and Caracalla. Van Lint painted many views of Rome's bridges, which he rendered with a mixture of naturalism and poetry. His sharp powers of observation make him stand out as a vedute painter in the 18th century.

Van Lint painted also many views of the waterways, waterfalls and harbours around Rome and beyond. These include views of Naples and Venice, cities for which there is no documentary evidence that he actually traveled there. It is likely he developed these compositions on the basis of van Wittel's treatment of similar subjects.

While van Lint is known to have employed other artists such as Corrado Giaquinto, Adriaen Manglard, Anton Raphael Mengs, Pierre Subleyras, Sebastiano Conca, Giuseppe Chiari and Placido Costanzi to paint the staffage in his landscapes, he often painted the figures himself. The only artists whose figures have been identified in his work are Pompeo Batoni and Francesco Zuccarelli. The figures he painted in his compositions were often inspired by those of famous painters of the 17th century such as Guido Reni.

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