Landscape with Saint John the Baptist Preaching

The piece gives a plunging view over a vast imaginary landscape, dominated by a serene sky. On the left is a rocky mass; on the right, a river winds its way to the horizon. The subtle succession of planes in brown, green and blue hues creates the effect of infinite perspective. This delicate painting is the work of Joachim Patinir who seems to have been first and foremost a landscape artist. This was how he was described during his lifetime by his colleague and friend Dürer who arrived from Antwerp in 1520. While Patinir was undoubtedly not the first painter to perform this speciality, he certainly contributed to revoking the formal relationship between landscapes and human figures. His composite panoramas, which seem to embrace the whole earth, have been called "Weltlandschaften", sometimes translated into English as "world landscapes". But do not be misled, these works are images of devotion where both the landscape and the people – despite their miniature size – play an key role. (Sabine van Sprang in 'Musée d'Art Ancien. Oeuvres choisies' [Ancient Art Museum: Selected works])