Joos de Momper

This work is a characteristic example of Joos de Momper’s atmospheric and sweeping landscapes for which he was celebrated. In Van Dyck’s Iconographie, a series of prints of his portraits reproducing the likenesses of approximately one hundred famous nobles, scholars, and artists, he is described as ‘Judocus de Momper Pictor montium Antwerpiae’ (‘Joos de Momper Antwerp Painter of mountains’).¹ He was a prolific painter and is known for having collaborated with many artist during his lifetime, notably with Jan Brueghel the Elder, with whom he developed a long-lasting friendship. The figures in the present work are most likely to have been painted by the workshop of Jan Brueghel, with which de Momper collaborated on over 200 paintings. Their partnership may have begun as early as the late 1580s or alternatively from 1596 onwards, when both artists settled in Antwerp and ran successful workshops.²

The high viewpoint, with the wide, sweeping brush strokes and the arrangement of the landscape into two halves, with warmer tones in the foreground and cooler colours in the background, are typical features of de Momper’s mature style in the 1620s. Moreover, the reverse of the panel is incised with the letter A, a so-called annual letter only found in the guild year 1619-22, pointing out to a fabrication date of the panel in this period, however, the artist may have used it several years later.³

^1 https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/9200495/yoolib_inha_782 

² K. Ertz and C. Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere (1568–1625): Kritischer Katalog de Gemälde, vol. IV, Lingen, Germany 2008-2010, p. 137.

³ J. Wadum, ‘The Antwerp Brand on Paintings on Panel’, in Looking Through Paintings: The Study of Painting Techniques and Materials in Support of Art Historical Research, E. Hermens (ed.), Baarn 1998, p. 192.