Lot 1249 Dα

Although this mountain landscape by Josse de Momper was known to researchers, its whereabouts had been a mystery for decades. The work is a characteristic example of Netherlandish landscape painting around the year 1600. The artist uses the classic three-colour system to evoke the breadth and depth of the landscape: Brown for the foreground, green for the mid-ground and blue for the horizon.
Josse de Momper began his career in the second half of the 16th century, developing an independent Flemish school of landscape painting in the tradition of Pieter Brueghel. He was active in Antwerp, the leading artistic centre in Flanders, and worked with some of its most illustrious painters, including Jan Brueghel the Elder, Hendrick van Balen, Frans Francken the Younger and - as in the present work - Sebastian Vrancx.
Klaus Ertz dates this painting to around 1590/95.