Josse De Momper

Joos de Momper the Younger or Joost de Momper the Younger (1564February5, 1635) was a Flemish landscape painter active in Antwerp between the late 16th century and the early 17th century. Brueghel's influence is clearly evident in many of de Momper's paintings. His work is situated at the transition from late 16th-century Mannerism to the greater realism in landscape painting that developed in the early 17th century. He achieved considerable success during his lifetime.de Momper
at Oxford Artist Index

Life

Joos de Momper was born in an artistic family of Antwerp and was named after his grandfather who was a landscape painter.Joos de Momper
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History His father was Bartholomeus de Momper the Elder and his mother Suzanna Halfroose. He learned to paint from his father who was a painter, art dealer, printer and publisher.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 309-316 Larry Silver, Peasant Scenes and Landscapes: The Rise of Pictorial Genres in the Antwerp Art Market, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, p.193-195

In 1581 he became a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke at only 17 years old. It was assumed that in the 1580s, he travelled to Italy to study. Evidence for this trip was provided when landscape frescoes in the church of San Vitale in Rome, formerly attributed to Paul Bril, were given to Joos de Momper the Younger.Joos de Momper
at Sphinx Fine Art

On 4 September 1590 he married Elisabeth Gobijn. The couple had 10 children of whom Philippe de Momper became a painter. The painter Gaspard de Momper was either his son or a nephew. His pupils were Louis de Caullery and his son Philippe de Momper. His followers included his nephew Frans de Momper and Hercules Seghers.

De Momper enjoyed high-level patronage as is shown by the fact that Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, the governess of the Southern Netherlands, sent in 1616 a letter to the Antwerp magistrate asking him to excuse de Momper from the payment of taxes and fees. The artist could use the tax exemption as in his later years he was not able to paint as diligently as before and he was spending too much money at the inn.

De Momper died in Antwerp on 5 February 1635. He left large debts, and his possessions were sold off by his creditors.

He was mentioned by Karel van Mander in his Schilder-boeck, and his likeness was engraved by Anthony van Dyck.Joos de Momper Biography
in: Arnold Houbraken, ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'', 1718

Work

De Momper primarily painted landscapes, the genre for which he was highly regarded during his lifetime. Only a small number of the 500 paintings attributed to de Momper are signed and just one is dated. The large output points to substantial workshop participation. He often collaborated with figure painters such as Frans Francken II, Peter Snayers, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan Brueghel the Younger, usually on large, mountainous landscapes, whereby the other painters painted the staffage and de Momper the landscape. His works were often featured in the prestigious gallery paintings of collections (real and imagined) from the early seventeenth century.

He painted both fantasy landscapes, viewed from a high vantage point and employing a conventional Mannerist color transition of brown in the foreground to green and finally blue in the background, and more realistic landscapes with a lower viewpoint and more natural colors. His wide panoramas also feature groups of small figures.Irene Haberland, "Momper, de" ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, ccessed 8 July 2007

De Momper's works are chiefly inspired by the steep craggy Alpine slopes and high rock masses depicted in Pieter Brueghel the Elder's work. His closeness to Jan Brueghel the Elder would have played a role in his exposure to the Bruegel idiom. This is also seen in some of the motifs of De Momper's work which go back to Pieter Bruegel's inventions, such as winter landscapes and grain harvests. One of his works representing a ''Storm at Sea'' was previously attributed to Pieter Brueghel but is now generally ascribed to de Momper.

Another influence on De Momper was that of landscape specialist Lodewijk Toeput, who went on to make a career in Italy. De Momper emphasized stylization over naturalistic effects and used depth and atmosphere to achieve his goal of spatial construction.

De Momper's work, like that of the contemporary landscape painter Abel Grimmer, has often been dismissed for its formulaic repetition of stock motifs and presentation while his large works have been interpreted as merely a "broad-brush" version of Joachim Patinir's world landscape a century after its first formulation. He is regarded as representing the end of a tradition rather than a revitalization or an innovation of landscape painting as was happening in the Dutch Republic in the 17th century. On the other hand, the large size of his works and his collaboration with other leading artists suggest costliness and esteem for pictorial refinement.

Notable works

*'' Minerva's Visit to the Muses'' (with Hendrik van Balen for the figures and Jan Breughel the Elder for the flowers) – Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
*'' Flemish Market and Washing Place'' – Museo del Prado, Madrid
*'' Landscape with the Temptation of Christ'' – National Gallery Prague
*'' Large Mountain Landscape'' – Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna
*'' Dune Landscape with Travelers and Cattle'' – National Museum, Warsaw
*''Mountain Landscape with Campers and a Broken Tree'' – National Museum, Warsaw

Gallery

File:Landscape with Sea and Mountains (1).jpg, '' Landscape with Sea and Mountains'', c. 1623, Museum of Prado, Madrid
File:Joos de Momper (II) and Jan Brueghel the Elder - Rock Landscape with a Waterfall.jpg, '' Rocky Landscape with a Waterfall'', c. 1610, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
File:Landpass de Momper.jpg, '' Landscape with a Mountain Pass'', c. 1620, Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna
File:'A Hermit before a Grotto' by Joos de Momper the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder.jpg, '' Mountain Landscape with Pilgrims in a Grotto Chapel'', c. 1616, Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna
File:Mountain Landscape de Momper.jpg, ''Mountain Landscape'', c. 1625, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
File:Jan Brueghel (I) & Joos de Momper (II) - Summer landscape with harvesters (Toledo Museum of Art).jpg, '' Summer landscape with harvesters'', Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio

See also

*Flemish painting

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Momper, Joos De
1564 births
1635 deaths
Flemish Baroque painters
Flemish landscape painters
Painters from Antwerp
Flemish Mannerist painters
Artists from the Spanish Netherlands