The Temptation Of Saint Anthony. Joos De Momper II (1564-1635)

Oil on oak panel Presented in its beautiful molded wooden frame, blackened, with foliage and gilt motifs in the corners.

Total dimensions: 65 x 81 cm. The panel alone: 48 x 63 cm

Rare subject! This temptation plunges us directly into the world of Hieronymus Bosch.

Saint Anthony is represented in a mountainous and wooded landscape, near his hermitage where he spent the first thirty-five years of his existence. He is surrounded by mischievous creatures, half-human, half-animal, one of them wearing a crown is enclosed in a globe surmounted by a cross, others on a boat; accompanied by a madman. On the left a scene where three characters “mix”, one of them with his pants down is whipped by keys; an allusion to the keys of the church. And many other details, which you can discover… But Antoine resists everything, and does not allow himself to be deceived by the tempting visions which multiply…

Joos de Momper II (known as the young) (1564-1635) Flemish painter of landscapes , he is the son and pupil of the painter and art dealer Bartholomeus Momper, free-master in 1581, then dean of the guild of painters in 1611. He seems to have spent most of his career in Antwerp where the presence of apprentices in his studio is attested as early as 1591. He seems most likely to have made the journey to Italy (like many of his contemporaries) between 1581 and c.1590. This Italian stay would better explain, in any case, the freshness of vision which animates the artist in his fascinating mountain panoramas and a kind of solid lyricism, a pictorial breadth (the fa presto of the Italians) and a power of construction and setting. a place which cannot yet be found at the same date in Flanders. The fact that very few works are signed and that almost none are dated hardly facilitates the chronological reconstruction of a painted work, moreover very ample, very dispersed. His favorite subjects are mainly mountains and vast horizons, caverns and picturesque rocky escarpments, but also the traditional winter views à la Bruegel. Joos de Momper systematized a process that was already old and somewhat obsolete in his time, atmospheric perspective, to draw from it a style that became characteristic of his way: the foreground in red-brown hues gradually fades towards the back -gray-blue plane thanks to the transition offered by the green-yellow hues in the center of the painting. His first landscapes adopt a high perspective, but later he prefers a lower perspective...

Very good state of preservation. Sold with invoice & certificate. Payment facilities on request.