Caspar van Wittel

Caspar van Wittel
Portrait of van Wittel by his son Luigi
Born	1653, Amersfoort
Died	1736, Rome
Known for	Landscapes

Caspar van Wittel or Gaspar van Wittel (born Jasper Adriaensz van Wittel, Italian name variations: Gaspare Vanvitelli [ˈɡaspare vaɱviˈtɛlli], Gasparo degli Occhiali [ˈɡasparo deʎʎ okˈkjaːli]; 1652 or 1653, Amersfoort – September 13, 1736, Rome) was a Dutch painter and draughtsman who had a long career in Rome. He played a pivotal role in the development of the genre of topographical painting known as veduta. He is credited with turning topography into a painterly specialism in Italian art.

Van Wittel was born into a Roman Catholic family. His father was a cart maker. Caspar studied painting in Amersfoort with the relatively obscure Thomas Jansz van Veenendaal for 4 or 5 years and then with the better known Matthias Withoos for 7 years.

His first extant works were made in Hoorn in 1672 to where he had fled after the French invasion and occupation of Amersfoort in the Rampjaar. He returned to Amersfoort where he was active until 1674, the year in which he left for Italy together with his friend Jacob van Staverden, another pupil of Withoos.

Like his former teacher Withoos, he joined the Bentvueghels, an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists working in Rome. His nickname in the Bentveughels was "Piktoors" (Pitch-torch) or "Toorts van Amersfoort" (Torch of Amersfoort). He was also nicknamed ‘Gasparo dagli Occhiali’ (Gaspare with the spectacles). He worked in Rome together with the Flemish painter Abraham Genoels and may even have been his pupil. Other collaborators included Hendrik Frans van Lint who would become one of the leading vedute painters in the first half of the 18th century.