Josephus Augustus Knip (Dutch, 1777-1847)

This pair are among the earliest works painted by the artist after his return from Italy. From 1809 to 1812 Knip finished his academic training during a stay in Italy. On his return, he built up his oeuvre by executing paintings based on the drawings he had made in Italy. The earliest dated work is from 1815 (see M. Boven et al., op. cit., pp. 131-2, no. 72) that was followed by the present pair. In the view of the Lago Albano, Knip has combined several motives from that region: for instance the fountain in the lower right is based in reverse on that depicted in a watercolour exhibited at Douwes in 1969 (see 'Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen, Aquarellen en Tekeningen', 21 April-23 May 1969, no. 57, with ill.). The same fountain appears in a watercolour by Hendrik Voogd, dated 1806, in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, which has been identified by Fransje Kuyvenhoven as near the villages Arricia and Genzano, between the lakes of Albano and Nemi (see 'De aan Hendrik Voogd (1768-1839) toegeschreven tekeningen in de Galleria dell'Accademia te Venetië', Oud Holland, CVI, 1992, p. 24). The village of Arricia attracted artists from all the foreign colonies in Rome.