Pieter Bolcman (Bolckman, Bolkman), called de Roeper (Caller), was probably born around 1640 and he was presumably from Antwerp. He must have been about twenty years old when, after finishing his apprenticeship, he set out on a study tour to Italy. He was a member of the Flemish “De Bentvueghels” painting society in Rome. In 1688 his name was written on the wall of the church of S. Costanza, where the initiation ceremony for new members was performed. On 30 September 1669 he was present at the ceremony organised as a farewell for the Antwerp graphic artist Albert Clouet. In 1704 he was prior of the Compagnia di San Luca in Turin. Beside the Bolcman paintings now discovered in Ljubljana, one of which is signed and dated 1709, another signed work dated 1664, Landscape with a Flock and Figures (Rest on the Flight into Egypt ?) is known. It was on sale at an auction at the Casa Rietmulder in the Hague on 25–26 May 1972, lot 264. On 30 August 1973, the painting was offered for sale in London (Sotheby’s, lot 209) and again on 19 December 1973 (Sotheby’s, lot 129). Three paintings are kept in the Museo Civico in Turin; two of them are signed and dated: Market (1682) and Veduta of Piazza Castello (1686). Other works are in private collections in Piedmont.
Lit.: G. J. Hoogewerff, De Bentvueghels, Haag 1952, pp. 113, 119, 132; Schede Vesme: L'arte in Piemonte dal XVI al XVIII secolo, Vol. 1, Torino 1963, pp. 173-174 (s. v. Borgomans); Diana Trionfante: Arte di Corte nel Piemonte del Seicento, Editor M. de Macco and G. Romano, Torino 1989, pp. 326-327; Arabella Cifani-Franco Monetti: I Piaceri e le Grazie: Collezionismo, pittura di genere e di paesaggio fra Sei e Settecento in Piemonte, Vol. I, pp. 71-104, Vol. II. pp. 516-519, Torino 1993; De Maere & Wabbes: Illustrated Dictionary, Vol. I and II, Brussels 1994.