Coastal Landscape with Balaam and the Ass

Breenbergh was a member of the earliest generation of Dutch Italianate painters. He was influenced by Paul Brill and other Northern European landscape painters who were active in Rome. His works were set against landscapes reminiscent of sites from antiquity and depicted either religious or mythological scenes. Breenbergh's works are characterized by meticulous brushwork and refined compositions, and his most important landscape works were created in the 1630s. This work superbly presents the artist's mature period style. The subject of this oblong composition depicting a coastal scene comes from the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament: under orders from Balak, king of Moab, the diviner Balaam is going forth to place a malediction on the people of Israel who had arrived in the valley of the Jordan River. Balaam sets out, riding an ass, when a sword-bearing messenger angel from God appears and blocks Balaam's path. The ass sees the angel and is frightened off the path, while Balaam does not see the angel. Balaam, unaware of why the ass had strayed, tries to strike the ass (Numbers 22:1-35). Here the painting depicts that instant when Balaam is about to beat the ass. Pieter Lastman and Rembrandt also depicted this same subject. There are traces of a mannerist touch in the somewhat artificial panoramic view, but the bright light that floods the entire scene shows the clear beginnings of a new sensibility. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 39)