Gaspar van Wittel (born Jasper Adriaensz van Wittel; 1652 or 1653 - 1736)

• Known in Italian as Gaspare Vanvitelli.
• Was a Dutch painter and draughtsman who had a long career in Rome.
• Van Wittel was born into a Roman Catholic family in Amersfoort. • Caspar studied painting in Amersfoort with Thomas Jansz van Veenendaal for 4 or 5 years and then with the better known Matthias Withoos for 7 years.
• 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).
• Van Wittel spent almost all his life in Italy where he arrived in 1674 and died in 1736. 
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