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Lot Essay
Praised by Karel van Mander for his ‘aerdighe handelinge’ (‘subtle manner of working’, Het Schilderboeck, Haarlem, 1604, fol. 295v.) and immortalised in Anthony van Dyck’s Iconography, Joos de Momper was one of Antwerp’s leading landscape painters in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, and became especially renowned as a painter of mountainscapes. This work exhibits all the typical traits of de Momper’s work, in the characteristic handling of paint and the carefully composed composition.
According to increasingly common practice in the Netherlands during his lifetime, de Momper often collaborated with other artists, who contributed the stafage to his landscapes. Indeed, the artist worked frequently with Jan Breughel the Elder, who, during his time in Italy, referred to de Momper as ‘Mio amico Momper’ in a letter to Ercole Bianchi. De Momper later began a productive collaboration with his son, Jan Breughel the Younger, the two having presumably met in Breughel the Elder’s workshop before his departure to Italy in 1622. This working relationship developed into the most fruitful and prolonged of de Momper’s later career.
According to increasingly common practice in the Netherlands during his lifetime, de Momper often collaborated with other artists, who contributed the stafage to his landscapes. Indeed, the artist worked frequently with Jan Breughel the Elder, who, during his time in Italy, referred to de Momper as ‘Mio amico Momper’ in a letter to Ercole Bianchi. De Momper later began a productive collaboration with his son, Jan Breughel the Younger, the two having presumably met in Breughel the Elder’s workshop before his departure to Italy in 1622. This working relationship developed into the most fruitful and prolonged of de Momper’s later career.