.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Little is known about the life of Henri met de Bles. He was born circa 1510 in Dinant, not far from Joachim Patinir's hometown of Bouvignes. It has been suggested that he was the 'Herri de Patenir' who was recorded in the Antwerp artists' guild in 1535 and that he was possibly a nephew of Patinir. While Marcantonio Guarini (1621) noted that he was buried in Ferrara, which suggests that his last years were spent in Italy, both Guicciardini and Vasari make no such allusion to his presence there.
Met de Bles's pictures can be placed loosely into three groups. The present, beautifully preserved, painting conforms to the earliest group of works, which closely follows the tradition of Patinir. Significantly their compositions exist only in single examples, which suggests the work of a young artist, before he acquired assistants. As in the Sermon of Saint John of circa 1535 (Cleveland Museum of Art), the mass of battling figures in the present painting is placed on an elevated crop of land overlooking a panorama of mountaintop fortifications, organized in parallel strips. However, unlike Patinir, Bles's mountains rise more naturally from the plains below and his background landscapes are much more atmospheric; subtle cool blues and blue-whites veil the distant prospect, contrasting with the warm greens of the foliage in the foreground. His mountains are painted in soft tones ranging from pinks to brownish purples, while his pictures throb with the myriad details of life. Although seldom as detailed as either the present painting or the Cleveland Sermon of Saint John, other works from Bles's early period include The Temptation of Christ, formerly with Robert Finck, Brussels, the Saint Christopher in Rotterdam, the Miraculous Draught of Fish in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, and the Christ Carrying the Cross of circa 1535 in the Princeton University Art Museum.
In the hollow of the tree sits an owl, which from the late sixteenth century onwards, has always been taken as the 'hallmark' or signature of works by Henri met de Bles. Lomazzo (Trattato dell'arte de la pittura, Milan 1584, p. 475) refers to the painter as 'Henrico Blessio Boemo, chiamta de la civitta [little owl], principal pittore de paesi', while Karel van Mander (Schilderboeck, 1603/4, fol. 219v.) calls him 'Den Meester van den wi' (the master of the owl). Ever since, numerous sixteenth-century paintings in which an owl is depicted have been attributed to de Bles. Since, however, these works show little stylistic unity, it is debatable whether the owl should be seen exclusively as the signature of the artist.
Met de Bles's pictures can be placed loosely into three groups. The present, beautifully preserved, painting conforms to the earliest group of works, which closely follows the tradition of Patinir. Significantly their compositions exist only in single examples, which suggests the work of a young artist, before he acquired assistants. As in the Sermon of Saint John of circa 1535 (Cleveland Museum of Art), the mass of battling figures in the present painting is placed on an elevated crop of land overlooking a panorama of mountaintop fortifications, organized in parallel strips. However, unlike Patinir, Bles's mountains rise more naturally from the plains below and his background landscapes are much more atmospheric; subtle cool blues and blue-whites veil the distant prospect, contrasting with the warm greens of the foliage in the foreground. His mountains are painted in soft tones ranging from pinks to brownish purples, while his pictures throb with the myriad details of life. Although seldom as detailed as either the present painting or the Cleveland Sermon of Saint John, other works from Bles's early period include The Temptation of Christ, formerly with Robert Finck, Brussels, the Saint Christopher in Rotterdam, the Miraculous Draught of Fish in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, and the Christ Carrying the Cross of circa 1535 in the Princeton University Art Museum.
In the hollow of the tree sits an owl, which from the late sixteenth century onwards, has always been taken as the 'hallmark' or signature of works by Henri met de Bles. Lomazzo (Trattato dell'arte de la pittura, Milan 1584, p. 475) refers to the painter as 'Henrico Blessio Boemo, chiamta de la civitta [little owl], principal pittore de paesi', while Karel van Mander (Schilderboeck, 1603/4, fol. 219v.) calls him 'Den Meester van den wi' (the master of the owl). Ever since, numerous sixteenth-century paintings in which an owl is depicted have been attributed to de Bles. Since, however, these works show little stylistic unity, it is debatable whether the owl should be seen exclusively as the signature of the artist.