Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx | |
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Artist | Joachim Patinir |
Year | c. 1515–1524 |
Medium | Oil on wood |
Dimensions | 64 cm × 103 cm (25 in × 41 in) |
Location | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx is an oil on wood painting by the Flemish Northern Renaissance artist Joachim Patinir. Dating to c. 1515–1524, it is now in the Museo del Prado, in Madrid.
Landscape with Charon Crossing Styx fits into common Northern Renaissance and early Mannerist trends of art. The 16th century witnessed a new era for painting in Germany and the Netherlands that combined influences from local traditions and foreign influences. Many artists, including Patinir, traveled to Italy to study and these travels provided new ideas, particularly concerning representations of the natural world. Patinir's religious subjects, therefore, incorporate precise observation and naturalism with fantastic landscapes inspired by the northern traditions of Bosch.[1]
Iconography
It depicts the classical subject related by
On the right side of the composition is Patinir's vision of Hell, drawing largely on
Composition and colour
Patinir utilised a
In the middle-ground is the river and the grasslands in bright hues of blue and green. 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. This compositional form is applied here by the crowded left and right sides bracketed by hills, which pushes the viewer's eye into the open space in the middle and reinforces that the men in the boat are the main focus of the painting.[4][5]
References
- ^ Robert A. Koch, Joachim Patinir, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968 (ISBN 978-0-691-03826-1)
- ^ Robert A. Koch, Joachim Patinir, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968 (ISBN 978-0-691-03826-1)
- ^ Alejandro Vergara (ed.), Patinir, studies and critical catalogue, Madrid, Museo National del Prado, 2007, pp 150-163 (Spanish) (ISBN 978-84-8480-119-1)
- ^ Robert A. Koch, Joachim Patinir, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968 (ISBN 978-0-691-03826-1)
- ^ Alejandro Vergara (ed.), Patinir, studies and critical catalogue, Madrid, Museo National del Prado, 2007, pp 150-163 (Spanish) (ISBN 978-84-8480-119-1)