Peter Van Bloemen Detto Lo Stendardo Biography
Pieter van Bloemen, or Blommen or Bloms (Antwerp, 17 January 1657 – Antwerp, before 6 March 1720), was a Flemish painter and engraver. The following year he visited Rome, while ten years later he was reported to Lyon in the company of the Dutch artists Adriaen van der Cabel and Gillis Weenix. In the same period (1684-1685) Jan Frans, who was in Paris, was called by his brother to Lyon. The two brothers, however, not finding themselves comfortable in this city, moved to Rome, traveling to Turin, where they remained for some time. From 1686-1687 they lived in Rome, where they became part of the Schildersbent, Pieter with the nickname of Standaart or Banner, probably for the banners he painted in battle scenes, while Jan Frans with the nickname Horizon, for the ease with which he painted landscapes. This nickname had previously belonged to Claude Lorrain. Pieter had the Flemish painter Frans Vanier as his assistant from 1689 to 1692, the year he left Rome. In 1694 he returned to Antwerp, where he became dean of the Guild of St Luke in 1699. He was a particularly prolific painter. Most of his paintings are landscapes with figures and animals, battle or genre scenes, stops of travelers and animals and horse markets. He was appreciated above all as a painter of animals, so much so that he got work with other artists. His younger brother Jan Frans also used him as a figure painter for his landscapes.
