Also known by the Italian nickname of L'Orizzonte, Jan van Bloemen was a Flemish artist, specialising in landscape, who spent much of his life in Rome. He was inspired by the classiciizing landscapes of Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675) as well as by the beauty of Rome itself and the surrounding Campagna. From about 1730 some features of his paintings owe a debt to Poussin and his scenes were often populated by Carlo Maratta, Placido Costanzi or Pompeo Batoni. L'Orizzonte produced some of the finest classical landscape paintings in Rome during the first half of the 18th century. He had a number of pupils who imitated his style but his death in 1749 left a void which probably helped to persuade Wilson to turn to landscape from portraiture two or three years later. Wilson was noticeably influenced by him in some of his early compositions, e.g. P44 Tivoli, the Cascatelle Grande and the Villa of Maecenas and P45 The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna.
