Pieter Van Bloemen (Antwerp 1657 - Antwerp 1720)

Pieter,  brother of the better-known Jan Frans van Bloemen, was born in Antwerp on 16 or 17 January 1657. He received his early training in the studio of the painter of battle scenes Simon van Douw and in 1673 became a member of the local painters’ guild, earning the qualification “master” the following year. He soon moved to Lyon where he enjoyed such success that in 1684 he invited his brother, by then living in Paris, to join him in the French town. He became a close friend of the Dutch painter Adriaen van der Cabel, renowned for his elegant Italian landscapes, who convinced Pieter to visit the country.
Pieter and his brother settled first in Turin at the court of Vittorio Amedeo III of Savoy, who commissioned several works, now lost, and then moved to Rome in 1685. Pieter specialized in painting battle or hunting scenes with horses, caravans, farmhouses and live animals at market in the style of Philips Wouwerman, becoming the most sought after animal painter in Rome. In 1694 he returned to Antwerp and in 1699 was made deacon of the painters’ guild. He died there in March in 1720.