A Roman Blacksmith's Shop

The blacksmith’s shop in the lower right-hand corner of this painting is busy with customers. The grey horse, laden with a pack, is having a new shoe fitted by two men, bent double with the exertion of their task. Another man wearing a red hat leans over to check on the progress of the task. In the left and right foreground, figures wait and converse, perhaps taking a momentary pause while the blacksmiths finish their work. This scene appears to be set in Rome. The church on the hill, with its characteristic pair of towers, references the church of Trinità dei Monti on the Pincian Hill (today, at the top of the city’s so-called ‘Spanish Steps’).

It has been suggested that this scene was painted by the artist Jan Lingelbach (1622-74), during the time that he spent in Rome. Born in Frankfurt, Germany and later moving to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, Lingelbach spent time in France and Rome during the 1640s. Today, Lingelbach’s involvement in this painting is questioned, though it is still thought to have been painted by an artist working in his orbit and influenced by his style.