Hulin de Loo, Georges: Early Flemish paintings in the Renders Collection at Bruges: exhibited at the Belgian Exhibition, Burlington House, January 1927 (London, 1927)

evolution perfectly. It is sufficient to compare it with two of
Memling’s works of which we have spoken previously and
in which, however, nature had already been treated : the
beautiful Saint Mary - Magdalen inspired by Van der Weyden
and the Virgin with the Child and an angel; then one
grasps the amount of ground that has been covered in less
than three quarters of a century. In Patenier’s pictures, space
and sky fill up the whole panel, they dominate everything.
Here we find the formula on which an important part of
our modern art still rests. This will appear still more clearly
with the appearance of those great pictures which are to
distinguish the second part of the career, namely the master'
pieces entitled « Charon » and « Saint Jerome in a landscape »
at the Prado and the « Saint Christopher » at the Escurial. r—~
The composition of our Saint Jerome would appear to
belong rather to an intermediate period. We think that it
may be said to have been painted about the same time as
the « Baptism of Christ » (in Vienna) with which it has
certain points in common; that would bring us to the
time either before or very shortly after Patenier had settled
in Antwerp (1515). Have we here a picture done by Patenier’s
own hand? at the present moment we would hardly venture
to give a verdict. Around the central and well defined
nucleus existing in the Master’s work, consisting of the great
pictures mentioned above and which are easily to be discri-
minated, other productions, in great number, are gathered;
the latter, like our panel, possess all the characteristics of
Patenier’s style, without however, showing that special note