Joachim Patinir
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Joachim Patinir, also called de Patinier and de Patiner (ca. 1480 - October 5, 1524) was a Flemish landscape and religious painter.
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[edit] Overview
Patinir became registered as a member of Antwerp's painters’ guild (Guild of Saint Luke) in 1515, where he spent the rest of his life. He may have studied with Gerard David at Bruges, who had been registered as a guild member in the same year as Patinir. In 1511, Patinir is believed to have travelled to Genoa with Gerard David and Adrien Ysenbrandt.
In 1521, Patinir’s friend Albrecht Dürer attended his second wedding and painted his portrait. Dürer called Patinir "der gute Landschaftmaler" ("a good painter of landscapes"), thus creating a neologism translated later into the French. Patinir let his landscapes dwarf his figures, which were often painted by other artists, and his immense vistas combine observation of naturalistic detail with lyrical fantasy, the prime example of which is his The Flight into Egypt (Museum of Antwerp). Other examples of his work include The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Prado), The Baptism of Christ (Vienna), St. John at Patmos (National Gallery, London), Landscape with the Shepherds (Antwerp), and Rest by the Way (Minneapolis Institute of Arts). There is also a triptych attributed to him called The Penitence of St. Jerome.
There are only five paintings signed by Patinir, but many other works have been attributed to him with varying degrees of probability. The ones that are signed read: Opus Joachim D. Patinier, the “D” in his signature signifying Dionantensis (“of Dinant”), which may attest to his provenance from this town.
Patinir was a pioneer of landscape as an independent genre and he was the first Flemish painter to regard himself primarily as a landscape painter. Patinir was the friend of not only Dürer, but with Quentin Metsys as well, with whom he often collaborated. The Temptation of St Anthony (Prado) was done in collaboration with Metsys.
Patinir died in Antwerp, and Quentin Metsys became the guardian of his children.
[edit] Analysis of a painting
[edit] Overview
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx is a very intricate painting. At first glance, the focus of the painting stands out clearly. The focus is in the center of the picture, where a man paddles down a river with another man much smaller than himself, in the boat. The man in the boat seems as if he is awaiting his destiny and the boat is leaning towards the right, Hell. The painting visibly depicts the details to the left and right side of the focus: heaven and hell, good and evil. To the left is a heavenly place with bright blue skies, crystal blue rivers with a luminous fountain and angels accenting the grassy hills. To the far right of the painting is a gloomy, depressing site with a dark sky. Also on the right is fire blazing off of the hills with the sky suffocating in smoke, and dead people hanging off the depicted gate of Hell.
[edit] Lines
The prevailing direction of the lines in this piece are horizontal and vertical. The painting has a high horizon, as if the viewer was looking from a birds-eye-view over the body of water. The vertical features of Patinir's painting are the rocks, trees, hills, angels, demons and other little features that make up the details of the painting. The quality of the lines in the painting vary. To the left-hand side in Heaven, the lines are very curvy, fluid, and delicate. The river in the middle is also curvy, accented with the sharp lines of the men and the boat. On the right-hand side in Hell, the lines are very choppy and harsh, giving a distinct contrast between Heaven and Hell.
[edit] Light source
The light source of the painting is coming from the left side, the side of Heaven. Heaven is clearly lit up with a crystal blue, sunny sky. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of tonal contrast in the painting. Landscape with Charon
Crossing the Styx is representing the journey to Heaven or Hell, Heaven being luminous and Hell being murky. The river is the dividing point, which is modeled with light and shade, light being on the left side and shade being on the right side.
[edit] Colors
The vivid colors of Patinir’s painting drove my selection of this work, while the intensity really caught my attention. The predominant color scheme in the picture is a three-color scheme suggesting depth. Patinir repeatedly used this scheme in his paintings. The three-color scheme consisted of, “the foreground which is usually brown, the middle ground a bluish green and the background a pale blue” (Groveart.com). The foreground in the painting is at the lower bottom half where there are brown rocks in Heaven and brown burnt trees in Hell. At the middle ground is the river and the grasslands with bright hues of blue and green throughout the painting. The background, which is cut off by the horizon line of the darker blue river, is a pale blue sky highlighted with white and gray clouds.
In Patinir‘s work, there is a reoccurring theme in space and design. The background details are seen as if they are very small—making everything look diverse from the sizes to the scales within a single painting. More than once, “Patinir used a repoussoir device to suggest depth, such as distancing effect of certain objects, areas of ground or groups of rocks,” which is evident in Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx (Groveart.com). Repoussoir is French for driving bolt, and is defined as shaped or decorated patterns in relief by hammering or pressing on the reverse side of the painting. The painting is crowded to the left and right sides, and very open in the middle. The openness in the middle symbolizes and restates that the men in the boat are the main focus of the painting, and to the right and left is a clear depiction of Patinir’s vision of Heaven and Hell.
[edit] Depth and meaning
Joachim Patinir’s painting Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx has more depth and meaning to it than appears at first glance. The painting represents a classical story of the traditions of the Last Judgment and the Ars moriendi with a Christian flair. The higher figure in the boat is Charon, who “ferries the souls of the dead to the gates of Hades” (Smith 320). The passenger in the boat, too minute to distinguish his expressions, represents a human soul waiting for Charon to decide between life or death. To the left is the fountain of Paradise, the spring from which the river Lethe flows. The Lethe river is the beautiful river that flows through Heaven,“ the water of Lethe has the power to make one forget the past and to grant eternal youth” (Battistini 210). The river flowing through the middle of the painting is the Styx, one of the four rivers of the underworld that passes through the deepest part of hell. Further to the right in Hell, the gate depicted in the painting is the gate of Hell which, “according to the Greek writer Pausanias, one of the gates was located at the southern end of the Peloponnesus, in an inlet still visible on the Cape Matapan” (Battistini 213). In front of the gates of Hell is Cerberus, a three-headed dog, who guards the entrance of the gate and frightens all the potential souls who enter into Hades.
[edit] Movement
Landscape with Charon Crossing Styx fits into the Northern Renaissance movement of art. The 16th century developed a new era for painting in Germany and the Netherlands. Many artists including Patinir traveled to Italy to study. Their travels to the South drastically influenced their painting style. Nicolas Pioch, who wrote The Northern Renaissance states, “In the North, change was driven by another set of preoccupations: religious reform, the return to ancient Christian values, and the revolt against the authority of the Church” (Pioch). Patinir focused his paintings on religious stories with precise observation and naturalism in his landscape.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Gallery
- Robert A. Koch, Joachim Patinir (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968).
- Battistini, Matidle. Symbols & Allegories in Art: The Hereafter. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005. 210, 212-13.
- Falkenburg, Reindert. Joachim Patinir: Landscape as an image of the Pilgrimage of Life. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1988.
- “Joachim Patinir.” Grove Art Online. 5 Jan. 2006. 6 Mar: 2006 <http://www.groveart.com/shared/components/article/article_toc.html?>.
- Pioch, Nicolas. "The Northern Renaissance (1500-1615)." WebMuseum. 14 Oct.2002. 28 Mar. 2006 <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/north-ren.>.
- Smith Chipps, Jeffery. The Northern Renaissance. Phaidon. Arts & Ideas, 2004. 321.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Patinir, Joachim |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Joachim Le Patinier; Patinir, Joachim de; Patenier, Joachim |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Flemish painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1480 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | near Dinant |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 5, 1524 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Antwerpen |
