River Landscape with Imaginary Roman Ruins

An Italianate landscape, centring on the ruins of a tall, classical Roman edifice, described as a tomb. Reliefs on this building include a figure on a throne and a horseman. The landscape is populated with various human figures, some of whom travel in a rowing boat along the river in the foreground.
Vroom himself had most probably never been to Italy. He is likely to have drawn his inspiration from the work of colleagues, particularly Adam Elsheimer and Jan van de Velde. His ignorance of things Italian might explain the presence of some very Dutch-looking plants and trees, and the typically Dutch motif of the woman knocking acorns out of a tree for her pigs. The painter was a son and probably a pupil of the prolific marine artist Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, some of whose works also hang in the Frans Hals Museum. Cornelis initially followed in his father’s footsteps, but in due course traded in seascapes for the landscape. He is seen as a trailblazer for the celebrated Jacob van Ruisdael.