More information
Known by the nickname 'Herri met de Bles', this painter appears to be Herri Patenier, who became a free master in Antwerp in 1535 and was the nephew of Joachim Patenier (Patinir).
He stayed in Italy, where his finely detailed landscapes were very successful. According to an old tradition, he would have ended his days at the Court of Ferrara. In Italy he is known under the name Herri van Dinand and under the nickname Civetta (owl), because of the owl, which he depicted in several of his paintings.
According the Museum: Herri met de Bles, of whose life little is known, was one of the most important Flemish landscape painters after Joachim Patinir. This fine panel (better preserved at the left than at the right) is characteristic of a number of his works that feature catastrophic, fantastic landscapes. Also, Hieronymus Bosch’s Lisbon Triptych of the Temptation of Saint Anthony functioned as a source for the panels’ Christian iconography and compositional elements. The artist cleverly conflated the style and motifs of Bles and Bosch to satisfy a local and foreign art market demand for small-scale and easily transportable paintings.
A similar painting can be seen at Christies in London 1985.
Credit line:
History:
Heinz Kisters, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland (in 1965); private collection (until 1968; sold to Böhler); [Julius Böhler, Munich, 1968–1969; sold to Kleinberger]; [Kleinberger, New York, 1969–75; bequeathed by Harry G. Sperling, last surviving partner of firm, to MMA]
Literature:
Book: De Eeuw van Bruegel - De schilderkunst in Belgie in de 16e eeuw-exhibition in Brussel 1963 - Meisterwerke der Malerei aus Privatsammlungen im Bodenseegebiet. Ed. Oscar Sandner. Exh. cat., Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis Bregenz. [Bregenz], [1965], pp. 24–25, no. 9, colorpl. II, as by Herri met de Bles; refers to a painting with the same subject and Boschian idiom in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna [probably GG_958 or GG_3688]. Nancy A. Corwin. "The Fire Landscape: Its Sources and Its Development from Bosch through Jan Brueghel I, with Special Emphasis on the Mid-Sixteenth Century Bosch "Revival"." PhD diss., University of Washington, Seattle, 1976, p. 290, no. 79, pl. 86, catalogues it as "present location unknown" and attributes it to the "Hand K" follower of Bles, about 1550–60; calls it "certainly by the same hand" as a Temptation of Saint Anthony (Rex de C. Nan Kivell, England); observes that although "showing characteristics of Bles's style, there is a tendency to exaggerate them more than he does as in the mountains in the left background," and that "the tower seems inspired by Bosch". Luc Serck. "Henri Bles & la peinture de paysage dans les pays-bas méridionaux avant Bruegel." PhD diss., Université Catholique de Louvain, 1990, vol. 4, pp. 938, 941, 943, no. 73, ill., ascribes it to "Henri Bles" and mentions a similarly composed picture formerly in the Wetzlar collection, Amsterdam (sold, Christie's, London, July 5, 1985, no. 53); compares the architecture with that in the "Temptation of Saint Anthony" in the Lisbon Museum [Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga]. Luc Serck. Letter to Katharine Baetjer. July 7, 1991, observes that he had not seen our picture at the time he was writing his dissertation [see Ref. 1990] and that having seen it here last year, he is convinced that it could not be by Bles; cannot suggest a specific artist and, for want of something better, accepts Corwin's attribution [see Ref. 1976]; believes that the artist was in the "proche entourage" of Bles. Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 272, ill. Véronique Sintobin in From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, pp. 37, 256–57, no. 65, ill. (color), dates it about 1550–60. Peter Barnet and Wendy A. Stein in Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2012, ill. pp. 36, 71 (color). Maryan W. Ainsworth in Earth, Sea, and Sky: Nature in Western Art; Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [Tokyo], 2012, p. 215, no. 20, ill. [Chinese ed., Heifei Shi, 2013, pp. 48–49, no. 20, ill. (color)], dates it about 1555. Michel Weemans. Herri met de Bles: les ruses du paysage au temps de Bruegel et d'Érasme. Paris, 2013, pp. 277, 284, fig. 189 (color).
Source:
Website 'metmuseum.org'
