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Joos de Momper
Description
- Joos de Momper
- view of lake averno, with figures resting in the foreground, and the castle of baia and gulf of pozzuoli in the distance
- Pen and brown ink and red chalk, within brown ink framing lines;
bears inscription, attribution and numbering in brown ink on old mount: vue du lac averne a puzzol; Giodaco de Momper.; 2
Catalogue Note
At some point during the 1580s, Joos de Momper studied in Italy with Lodewijk Toeput, called Pozzoserrato. His works at this time can be hard to separate from those of his master, and indeed some of the drawings that seem closest to the present work in style, including examples in Rennes and Washington1, are given by Teresz Gerszi to Pozzoserrato, while An Zwollo favours an attribution to Momper. Here, however, there seems to be less of the rhythmic angularity typical of Pozzoserrato, and strong hints of the fluidity of draftsmanship characteristic of Momper's later drawings. In particular, the handling of the trees is similar to a signed and dated Momper drawing of 1620, in Dresden.2 That Momper may have travelled as far as the Bay of Naples has not, however, been previously suggested, and even Toeput, who spent many years in Italy, is only known to have gone as far south as Rome.
1. Rennes, Museum list 86, no. 3 (photo RKD, The Hague); Washington, National Gallery of Art, inv. no. 1980.2.I.
2. Inv. C 1883-55.