Mountain Landscape

In this canvas De Momper depicts a panoramic landscape with an estuary and port in the far distance, as well as forests and a church that are flanked on both sides by thickets and rocks. The latter elements are illuminated with backlighting, which functions to emphasise the immensity of a landscape bathed in evening light in which the sky and land become one. In the foreground a rider gives alms to an old woman begging by the roadside. The terrain is steep, with jagged rocks and shrubs stunted by the wind and by the constant flow of passers-by. In the distance are a church and houses clustered together in the port. De Momper makes use of strong contrasts between the shadows and the brightly lit areas, a device that is characteristic of his work. It functions to create a vivid, dynamic representation of the natural world and to create a contrast with the tonal unity of the extensive middle-ground.

The rapid handling and heavily impastoed, triangular brushstrokes are also typical of this artist’s technique and offer the clearest evidence when attributing a work to his hand. On stylistic grounds this canvas can be dated between 1625 and 1630. Despite the persistence of some earlier compositional devices, the tonal effects mentioned above and the merging of the hill and the sky suggest that this canvas dates from the artist’s mature period.