Anton van den Wyngaerde

Anton van den Wyngaerde
Signature of Anton van der Wyngaerde (1565).
Born	1525
Died	1571 Spain
Nationality	Flemish
Known for	Sketching
Notable work	Philip II of Spain

Anton van den Wyngaerde (Span.: Antonio de las Viñas; 1525 - 1571) was a prolific Flemish topographical artist who made panoramic sketches and paintings of towns in the southern Netherlands, northern France, England, Italy, and Spain. He is best known for many panoramas of cities in Spain that he drew while employed by Philip II. After his death, his works were dispersed into different collections, and their importance neglected. Their historical and artistic value has been rediscovered but recently.

Van den Wyngaerde was born probably around 1525 in Antwerp. His father may also have been an artist, as an "Anton van den Wyngaerde" was registered in 1510 in the painter's guild.

Van den Wyngaerde's first known work, from around 1544, was a topographical view of Dordrecht. As he was trained in the Antwerp school, he created his views using observations from nature. A large view of London in 14 sheets is dated to 1544, including a plan of Whitehall Palace, which he remodeled for Henry VIII of England.

Between 1552 and 1553 van den Wyngaerde created views of Rome, Genoa, Naples, and Ancona. Four of van den Wyngaerde's panoramas of Rome were discovered in the Sutherland Collection in the Bodleian Library of Oxford. They appear to be copies, and may have been done by apprentices rather than by the artist himself. One original by van den Wyngaerde was found later, in four separate leaves, more clearly and carefully drawn. They must have been executed no later than September 1557, as one of them shows the Pons Aemilius still complete, while it was ruined by a flood of the Tiber on 18/27 September 1557, and was not repaired in stone until 1575.