St. Christopher Carrying the Child Jesus

Joachim Patinir came from the region of Dinant and probably gained his training in Gerard David’s atelier at Bruges. Later, he became a member of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. In the sixteenth century, many painters specialized in a particular genre. Patinir was the first real landscape painter in The Netherlands, Ibrecht Dürer calling him ‘der gut landschaft maler’, the first mention of the word ‘landscape’ in the German language. This mediaeval saint of intercession was depicted by numerous painters. In the early sixteenth century, much of the population believed that evil could be averted by looking on the likeness of the mythical Christopher. The giant served as the patron saint of travellers, ferrymen, mariners and seamen. It was believed that one could not die on the day that one had beheld his likeness. During the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, life-size likenesses of him were to be seen in market-places and churches. Just as Massijs, Patinir has placed this saint in a dazzling landscape, but the religious scene is no longer cominant, but subordinated to the landscape. Patinir often painted in bird’s eye perspective, which allowed him to unfold the landscape in all its aspects right to the horizon and to reduce the religious element to a minimum.