page_title: Willem Reuter
section_title: Work
hierarchical_section_title: Willem Reuter / Work
caption_attribution_description: English: Willem Reuter, A Roman Market, Oil on canvas, 118.7 x 193.0 cm,	1669, Norton Simon Art Foundation
context_page_description: Willem Reuter was a Flemish painter of cityscapes, genre paintings and history paintings who was primarily active in Rome, where he was known as Guglielmo Reuter. He was part of the circle of Dutch and Flemish genre painters in Rome who are referred to as the 'Bamboccianti' and were known for their scenes depicting the lower classes in Rome.
context_section_description: Only a small number of paintings have been ascribed to Willem Reuter with any level of certainty.  His chronology is difficult to determine as he never dated his work.  His paintings usually depict market scenes or processions in Roman piazzas and occasionally historic or religious events set in landscape settings.  An example of a depiction of a historical event is the Celebration on the Piazza di Spagna, which probably depicts the birth of the Spanish infant Don Carlos in the year 1661 (in the collection of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Vienna in 1992).
  Willem Reuter’s Roman panoramic market scene dated 1669 referred to as A Roman market (Norton Simon Museum) is an example of his bustling market scenes.  The picture is built up of many different scenes and anecdotes such as a commedia dell’arte performance, a beggar receiving alms and an overturned cart carrying fragile crockery. The carefully orchestrated composition of the work makes each event clearly legible. In particular, the vertically-oriented buildings provide a stable backdrop for the loosely arranged groupings of people placed on the piazza's background to foreground.  A strong light helps clarify the figures and their interactions.
  His work, although superficially similar to the Bamboccianti in the use of Roman settings populated with many figures, can be distinguished from the paintings of this group of genre painters, as Reuter did not adopt the typology of the Bamboccianti and represents the cityscape more in the form of a veduta. Unlike other Bamboccianti, Reuter paid more attention to the precise rendering of nature. He borrowed from his master Sweerts (who was in turn influenced by Caravaggio) the use of chiaroscuro and a preference for the use of red tones.  Like Sweerts, Reuter was able to convey a tranquil mood by catching his figures engaged in their daily activities in sharply angled light. His work also shows classicist tendencies, with statuesque figures placed in architectural settings or idealized landscapes, and this was probably the reason why one of his works was formerly attributed to Nicolas Poussin.
  He influenced Peeter Bolckman.
caption: A Roman market
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