The Piazza del Popolo, Rome

Johannes Lingelbach is usually considered a Dutch artist, because he moved with his parents from his native Germany to Amsterdam when he was about 15. In the later 1640s, he spent several years in Rome, and continued to paint scenes of southern Europe even after returning to Amsterdam. Here, he depicts a small market on the Piazza del Popolo, the first glimpse of Rome for travelers arriving from the north. Lingelbach freely rearranged the city’s layout in his pictures. In this case, he moved the fountain and changed the appearance of Santa Maria del Popolo, the church in the background.