Ein römischer Kalkofen

Lime kilns, in which material from the ruins of ancient buildings was also fired, entered painting as curiosities from the Mediterranean region through artists from the Netherlands who were living in Rome. With this picture, Bourdon, who had been living in the Eternal City since 1636, picks up on such works, choosing however an unusually large format and placing the white lime and the poor people gathered on the site under a dramatic evening sky. By including two famous buildings and the remains of columns on the left of the picture he explicitly addresses the Romans’ treatment of the legacy of antiquity.