Mountainous landscape with Tobias and the Angel
KERSTIAEN de KEUNINCK
(Courtrai 1560 – Antwerp 1632)
Oil on panel. 85 x 110 cm. (33,46 x 43,30 in.) 1615 ca.
Our painting represents a great panoramic view of the landscape, dominated by fantastic mountains and rock formations, it is a work of the artist’s intermediate period and was probably painted in Antwerp.
A more precise comparison can be made with the works created around the period of 1610 – 1615 in Antwerp, when the artist was in close contact with Alexander Keirincx (1600-1652) and the Francken family.
The landscapes of this period were all great works of horizontal format and followed a very precise composition scheme. A diagonal divides the work into two parts, tracing a clear division between the action in the foreground and the immense rock formations in the background. On the opposite side, the artist often placed a theatrical background formed by trees, whose leafy branches follow a sinuous pointed line. The figures, small and secondary throughout the scene, are usually made by collaborators of the teacher. The figures of Tobias and the Angel were the artist’s favorites, they are represented walking along a path accompanied by a dog. Hunters, pilgrims and shepherds with goats were also appreciated.
Outstanding Flemish painter from the city of Antwerp, he belongs to the period of transition between Mannerism and Baroque. Specialized in landscapes, his work participates in both the influence of the 16th century and the pictorial innovations introduced in the 17th century. Son of a merchant of fabrics from Damascus, he came from the Flemish city of Cortrique.
Thanks to the documentation of the time, we know that he became a master of the important Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp in 1580 and that he married in 1585. Its valleys stand out with wooded mountains full of old trees, in which he introduced small mythological scenes and biblical in the foreground. It is easily recognizable by its so personal way of illuminating the landscapes, through a very dramatic light that falls obliquely from a sky covered with clouds to its fantastic and dreamlike landscapes, which goes beyond the mere reproduction of nature.
He repeated the same type of compositions from different points of view, which were full of details and characters, setting the scene represented. His production follows the flemish style of T. Verhaecht (1561-1631) and R. Savery (1576-1639), in addition, he was greatly influenced by the Frankenthal school. He had as a disciple his son Kerstiaen de Keuninck “The Younger”, who also enjoyed fame and recognition in his time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Stechow, Dutch Landscape Painting of the Seventheenth Century, London, 1968
- Bernt, The Netherlandish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, tomo 2, pág. 65, plates 619.
- Thiery, Les Peintres Flamands de Paysage au XVII e Siécle, Des Precurseurs A Rubens, Ed. 1987, pág 35-39
- H. Wilenski, Flemish painters, Vol I, pág 586
- Sulzberger, K. de Keuninck. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XXIII, VI, pág. 57-58.
- Racynski, Die flämische Landschaft vor Rubens, Frankfurt, 1937.
- Benezit, Dictionnaire des peintres…,. tomo 7, 1999, pag. 931.
- Devisscher, Contribución al estudio del pintor paisajista flamenco del siglo XVI Kerstiaen de Keuninck, Contribuciones de Gante a la Historia del Arte 26 (1981-’84), p. 89-160
- Zwollo, Pieter Stevens: nuevo trabajo, contacto con Jan Brueghel, influencia en Kerstiaen de Keuninck, Leiden Art History Yearbook 1 (1982), p. 95-118
- Salobre, Von A = Alsloot bis Z = Zapponi. El artístico Erbe des Gillis de Coninxloo: a Spurensuche, en: EJ Hürkey (ed.), Cat. carpa Art Kommerz Glaubenskampf. Frankenthal um 1600, Frankenthal (Museo Erkenbert) 1995, p. 121-122
PROVENANCE
- Private collection, Italy.
MUSEUMS
There are works by Kerstiaen de Keuninck in the collections of museums in the following cities among others: Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (Belgium) – Kortrijk Museum, Kortrijk (Belgium) – Grand Museum of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe (Germany) – Staatliche Kunsthalle , Maastricht (Netherlands) – Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht (Netherlands) – Metropolitan Museum, New York (USA) – Hermitage, St. Petersburg (Russia).