Large Mountain Landscape
Joos de Momper (1564–1635)
c. 1620
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Born into a family of painters, Joos de Momper was a member of the Guild of St Luke in his native Antwerp as early as 1581, while he was still a teenager. A landscape specialist, he was particularly renowned for his mountain scenes: in Van Dyck’s “Iconography”, a kind of print anthology of likenesses of notable contemporaries, his portrait is captioned ‘Pictor Montium’ (painter of mountains). The overall arrangement of these highly theatrical constructions is immediately apparent, but that they are based upon observation of actual alpine landscapes has been confirmed by the fact that De Momper executed frescos in the church of San Vitale in Rome during the 1580s and thus must have crossed the Alps during that decade.
Amongst the some five hundred paintings attributed to De Momper the present canvas is absolutely outstanding, and not simply on account of its monumental scale. The way it is organized is characteristic not only of De Momper’s work, but also of the panoramic ‘world’ landscape tradition in the Netherlands that stretches all the way back to Joachim Patinir in the early sixteenth century, specifically involving an artfully contrived progression from a dark foreground to a blue distance by way of a green middle zone. As was De Momper’s custom, the foreground figure groups are simply anonymous travellers, and the old tradition of representing a particular subject – whether religious or mythological – has been abandoned.
- Material/technique
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 198 × 300 cm
- Acquisition
- acquired in 1986 by Prince Franz Josef II von und zu Liechtenstein
- Artists/makers/authors
- Joos de Momper
- Inventory number
- GE 730
- Provenance
- before 1655 Collection of Don Diego de Mexia, Marquéz de Leganés (no. 131 in his estate inventory of 1655); 1655-1820 in the possession of the Condes de Altamira by inheritance; 1820 Collection Marquéz de Salamanca, Madrid; 1985 Sotheby's London; acquired in 1986 by Prince Franz Josef II from the art dealer Bruno Meissner, Zurich
- Iconography
- Mountain Landscape
Chr. von Faber-Castell, Weltkunst 56 1986, Abb. S. 3384
Klaus Ertz, Josse de Momper der Jüngere (1564-1635). Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog / Josse de Momper the Younger (1564-1635). The Paintings with critical Catalogue raisonné, Freren 1986, S. 306-307 u. 522, Abb. 373 u. 375, Kat. 198
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, La Chronique des Arts. Principales Acquisitions des Musées en 1987 1988, Abb. S. 52, Nr. 319
The Burlington Magazine, Recent acquisitions at the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, in: The Burlington Magazine 130, Nr. 1019 1988, Abb. S. 167, Nr. 112
Agnew's, Ausst.-Kat. Old Master Paintings, London 1993, Abb. Nr. 44
Ausst.-Kat. Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Uwe Wieczorek, Paul Reiles, Jean Luc Koltz (Hg.), Museée national d'histoire et d'art Luxembourg, Luxemburg 8.7.1995–3.9.1995, erschienen Luxemburg 1995, S. 120–122, Kat.-Nr. 89
Ausst.-Kat. Collections du Prince de Liechtenstein, Uwe Wieczorek, Paul Reiles, Jean Luc Koltz (Hg.), Musée national d’histoire et d’art de Luxembourg, Luxemburg 8.7.1995–3.9.1995, erschienen Luxemburg 1995, S. 71, Nr. 89, Abb. S. 108, Textband S. 120 - 122, Kat. 89
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Le Collezioni, München 2004, S. 420, Abb. S. 374-375, Kat. X.7
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Vienna. The Collections, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 420, Abb. S. 374-375, Kat. X.7
Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Die Sammlungen, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 420, Abb. S. 374-375, Kat. X.7
Ausst.-Kat. Der Blick in die Ferne. Landschaftsmalerei aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von und zu Liechtenstein. 15. bis 19. Jahrhundert, Johann Kräftner, Alexandra Hanzl, Kathrine Klopf-Weiss, Liechtenstein Museum (Hg.), Kunstmuseum, Luzern, 9.8.2008–5.10.2008, erschienen Wien 2008, S. 152, S. 89-91, Detailabb. S. 40, Nr. 38, Kat. 19
Ausst.-Kat. Der Fürst als Sammler. Neuerwerbungen unter Hans-Adam II. von und zu Liechtenstein, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), Liechtenstein Museum, Wien 12.2.2010–24.8.2010, erschienen Wien 2010, Abb. S. 204
Ausst.-Kat. I Tesori del Principe / Princely Treasures / Les Tresors du Prince. Capolavori delle Collezioni del Principe del Liechtenstein, Johann Kräftner, Gabriele Accornero (Hg.), Forte di Bard, Bard 9.12.2011–31.5.2012, erschienen Bard 2011, S. 84, Abb. 84/85
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Johann Kräftner, Die Schätze der Liechtenstein. Paläste, Gemälde, Skulpturen, Wien 2013, Abb. S. 226
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Ausst.-Kat. Rubens, Van Dyck and the Flemish School of Painting. Masterpieces from the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein (Book Series for the National Museum of China International Exchange), Lu Zhangshen (Hg.), National Museum of China, Beijing 5.11.2013–15.2.2014, erschienen Beijing 2013, S. 27, 195, 199, Abb. 198, Kat. 83
Ausst.-Kat. Rubens, Van Dyck and the Flemish School of Painting. Masterpieces from the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Shi Dawei (Hg.), China Art Museum, Shanghai 12.3.2014–2.6.2014, erschienen Shanghai 2014, S. 287, S. 288, Kat.-Nr. 83
Ausst.-Kat. Rubens and Other Masters. Paintings, Sculptures and Objects of the Prince of Liechtenstein, National Museum of Korea, Seoul 12.12.2015–10.4.2016, erschienen Seoul 2015, S. 252–253, Kat.-Nr. 112
Ausst.-Kat. Liechtenstein. Die Fürstlichen Sammlungen, Regula Berger, Matthias Frehner und Rainer Lawicki (Hg.), Kunstmuseum, Bern 12.11.2016–19.3.2017, erschienen München 2016, S. 267, 273, Kat.-Nr. 155
Ausst.-Kat. Distant Prospects.
European Landscape Paintings from LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi 26.2.2019–25.3.2019, erschienen Abu Dhabi 2019, S. 56, Abb. 33 (Detail), Abb. S. 89
Ausst.-Kat. Liechtenstein. Von der Zukunft der Vergangenheit. Ein Dialog der Sammlungen, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz 19.9.2019–26.1.2020, erschienen Vaduz 2019, Einzelkarte in Sammelbox, o. S.
