Fishermen hauling in the catch in an extensive landscape, a village beyond

Born in Antwerp, Lodewijk Toeput began his artistic career in the work shop if the history painter Maerten de Vos. In 1575 he travelled to Italy and likely joined the workshop of the prolific Mannerist painter, Tintoretto. He travelled through Italy, making stops in Padua, Rome, Florence and before settling in Trevisio in 1582. While he completed decorative fresco programs for churches in Treviso, the Villa Chiericati-Magna in Vicenza, and the Scoula dei Battuti in Conegliano; he is best remembered for his landscapes, which combine Flemish and Venetian styles.

Toeput’s landscapes are recognized by their distinctive atmospheric effects, achieved in the present painting, thorough a combination of modulation of color and panoramic viewpoints. In his drawings he explored combinations of topographical and man-made elements in his compositions, often employing bridges to link the left and right of the panorama and the use of trees and detailed foliage in the foreground for additional perspectival effects (fig.1). Once worked out on paper, Toeput incorporated these compositional elements in his painted landscapes, as in the present work. The painterly treatment of his landscapes had a great impact on the following generation of Flemish landscapist painters, including Paul Bril, Frederik van Valkenborch, Josse de Momper, and Tobais Verhaecht.