Johannes Lingelbach was baptised on 10 October 1622 in Frankfurt am Main as the sixth child of the tailor David Lingelbach von Eckershausen (?-1673) and Agnes Kunckel. By 1634 at the latest, his father had moved for unknown reasons with at least part of the family to Amsterdam, where on 1 November he negotiated an apprenticeship contract for his oldest son, Philips, with a locksmith and clockmaker. From 1636 on he operated the 'Ouden Doolhof', an amusement ground with trick fountains and astronomical apparatus in the Rozengracht, across from the house Rembrandt would later die in. After purchasing several properties, in 1648 he opened there the 'Nieuwe Doolhof'. Source materials provide no information about the training of Johannes Lingelbach. According to Houbraken, in 1642 he left Amsterdam for France, where he stayed for two years before moving on to Rome. The painter and draughtsman Jan Worst, only a few of whose drawings are known, supposedly accompanied him. On 23 November 1644 Lingelbach may have followed the procession of the newly elected Pope Innocent X from the Lateran to the capital, which he later made the subject of a painting (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). He is documented in Roman parochial archives from 1647 to 1649. Houbraken relates that he set out on his return journey, by way of Germany, on 8 May 1650, and reached Amsterdam in June. On 26 April 1653 he became engaged there to Tietje Hendrix Boussi, a daughter of the locksmith Hendrick Hendricks. The relevant document indicates that he was once again living in the Rozengracht at that time. On 31 October he attained citizenship in the city. On 9 December 1653 a daughter, Sophie, was baptised as the first of nine children. On 18 September 1662, Lingelbach purchased a house in the Reestraat from the painter Jan Blom for 6,600 gulden, and on 7 December of the same year as a dealer he unsuccessfully offered an 'Ecce Homo' by Titian for 1,100 gulden. We know from a contract with Isaak Croonenbergh, dated 1 April 1670, that he also trained apprentices; Croonenbergh had a falling out with Lingelbach after nine months and left the workshop. In 1672 he served along with other painters as an appraiser in a dispute over the authenticity of thirteen Italian paintings the Amsterdam art dealer Gerrit Uylenburgh had offered for sale to the Great Elector. He was charged twenty-seven gulden for the '200th penny' (one-half percent tax) in the year 1674, which shows that he was moderately wealthy. On 3 November of that year, he was buried in the Oude Luthersche Kerk. Although born in Frankfurt, Lingelbach is considered to belong to the Dutch school of painters - more precisely, to the leading figures of the second generation of Italianists. He is best known for his multifigured Roman vedute and richly populated exotic harbours. In addition, he occasionally illustrated contemporary events and battles. Landscapes with staffage and small-format 'Bambocciads', or genre scenes with three to four figures, form a separate group within his oeuvre. He was indebted to Pieter van Laer (1592/95-1642) for important stimuli in his early figural painting, to Jan Baptist Weenix (1621-ca. 1658/59) for his harbour paintings, and to Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668) for his later landscapes. He is also known as a draughtsman and etcher. The staffage in certain works by Jan van der Heyden, Jan Wijnants and Frederik de Moucheron is attributed to him.
