Gezicht op het Colosseum 1610 - 1657

Bartholomeus Breenbergh rendered this view of the Colosseum in pen and brown wash sometime in the first half of the 17th century. The Colosseum, an ancient Roman amphitheater, stood as a symbol of imperial power and grandeur, but by the 17th century, it was already in ruins. Breenbergh was Dutch, and his depiction here is of a romantic ruin, where nature reclaims and erodes human construction. This approach reflects a broader cultural interest in antiquity that developed during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, particularly in Northern Europe. Artists like Breenbergh traveled to Italy to study and document these classical remains, fueled by the patronage of wealthy art collectors and institutions eager to possess visual records of ancient civilization. Understanding the cultural context of this drawing requires us to research not only the history of the Colosseum, but also the artistic conventions and patronage systems of 17th-century Europe.