Gedeelte van het Colosseum met een ezeldrijver

About this artwork

penseel in bruin over schets in zwart krijt of grafiet

Art Historical Context

Jan Asselijn's *Gedeelte van het Colosseum met een ezeldrijver* (Part of the Colosseum with a Donkey Driver), created between 1635 and 1646, captures a vivid slice of ancient Rome's grandeur amid everyday life. The Dutch artist, who spent much of his career in Italy as part of the Bentvueghels artist fraternity, was renowned for his luminous landscapes and detailed Roman vedute—topographical views that romanticized classical ruins. Here, the weathered arches of the Colosseum frame a humble donkey driver, blending monumental architecture with human scale in a style influenced by the emerging Ba...

About the Artist

Jan Asselijn · 1610–1652

Jan Asselijn (c. 1610–1652), born Jean Asselin in Dieppe, France, to a Huguenot family, emerged as a leading figure in Dutch Golden Age landscape painting. His family relocated to Amsterdam around 1621, where he began his artistic training. He received instruction from Esaias van de Velde, a pioneering realist landscapist, and later studied with Jan Martszen the Younger, Esaias's nephew, producing...