DOI Artikel:
Tomalak, Mirosław: Two Unknown Paintings by Lodewijk Toeput and Joos de Momper the Younger
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.72800#0140
south in the 1580s: between his registration as a master in the Antwerp Guild
of St Luke in 1581 and his marriage in 1590.4 During this journey, Momper
stayed for some time at the workshop of Lodewijk Toeput in Treviso. There
is only one record which may indicate their teacher - pupil relation. It comes
from the inventory of Herman de Neyt's collection and was made in 1642: "een
lantschap van Mompers Meester Lodewyck van Treni".5 But despite the scarcity
of sources art historians agree about Mompers apprenticeship at the studio of
Toeput. Already in 1936, Charles Sterling observed that "it is enough to see
Mompers painting in Hannover [The Conversion of Paul] to acknowledge his
dependence on Toeput, who was influenced by Veronese and Tintoretto".6 It
is generally accepted that young Momper adapted Toeput's easy, visionary
manner, freely painted brush strokes, as well as his simplified and stylized
way of drawing figures. According to Gerszi, who revised the earlier research
of Klaus Ertz,7 among the early works by Momper (either executed in Italy
or shortly after his return to Antwerp), we can count seven or eight works: The
Ford in the Mountains (Paris, Galerie Birtschansky), Baptism of the Eunuch (Ger-
man private collection), Rocky Landscape with Flight into Egypt (Mainz, Mittel-
rheinisches Landesmuseum), The Bridge with Water Mill (Housem, Galerie
Fayt), Hercules Seizing the Cattle of Geryon (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), Ship-
wreck at the Greek Fleet at Troy (Stockholm, Nationalmuseum), Fall of Icarus
(Stockholm, Nationalmuseum), and Wide Landscape with Travellers (Ger-
man private collection). This last painting especially, depicting a vast plain,
sea gulf, and a town, framed on both sides by Italian-fashioned houses, bears
the traces of Mompers training in Veneto in general and, more precisely,
at the studio of Toeput.
Although a stylistic analysis was crucial in recognizing Mompers appren-
ticeship at Toeput's workshop, similarities between some works by these artists
have occasionally led to their confusion. A good example is provided by a draw-
ing with a carnival scene from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (fig. 5).
For a long time it used to be identified as a work of Lodewijk Toeput. Terez
Gerszi, however, has pointed to its several features suggesting that, although
the general compositional idea came from Pozzoserrato, it was executed by his
Two Unknown
Paintings...
4 The debate on Joos de Mompers Italian journey is thoroughly presented in the artist's
monograph by Klaus Ertz. Ertz, Josse de Momper..., pp. 321-331. According to Ertz, the final
argument for this hypothetical trip was provided by Terez Gerszi with the attribution of frescoes
in the Roman Church of San Vitale, previously given to Paul Bril, to Joos de Momper. However,
the article in which this reattribution was meant to be published, does not finally deal with this
problem. Terez Gerszi, Joos de Momper und die Bruegel-Tradition [in:] Netherlandish Mannerism,
ed. Görel Cavalli-Björkman, Stockholm 1985, pp. 155-164.
5 Ertz, Josse de Momper... The overview of Joos de Momper's works in inventories pp. 50-59.
6 Rubens et son temps [exhibition catalogue], dir. Charles Sterling, Musee de 1'Orangerie
Paris, Paris 1936, p. 77.
7 Terez Gerszi, Joos de Momper als Zeichner. Teil 1, "Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen" 1993,
Bd. 3, pp. 176-177.
139
of St Luke in 1581 and his marriage in 1590.4 During this journey, Momper
stayed for some time at the workshop of Lodewijk Toeput in Treviso. There
is only one record which may indicate their teacher - pupil relation. It comes
from the inventory of Herman de Neyt's collection and was made in 1642: "een
lantschap van Mompers Meester Lodewyck van Treni".5 But despite the scarcity
of sources art historians agree about Mompers apprenticeship at the studio of
Toeput. Already in 1936, Charles Sterling observed that "it is enough to see
Mompers painting in Hannover [The Conversion of Paul] to acknowledge his
dependence on Toeput, who was influenced by Veronese and Tintoretto".6 It
is generally accepted that young Momper adapted Toeput's easy, visionary
manner, freely painted brush strokes, as well as his simplified and stylized
way of drawing figures. According to Gerszi, who revised the earlier research
of Klaus Ertz,7 among the early works by Momper (either executed in Italy
or shortly after his return to Antwerp), we can count seven or eight works: The
Ford in the Mountains (Paris, Galerie Birtschansky), Baptism of the Eunuch (Ger-
man private collection), Rocky Landscape with Flight into Egypt (Mainz, Mittel-
rheinisches Landesmuseum), The Bridge with Water Mill (Housem, Galerie
Fayt), Hercules Seizing the Cattle of Geryon (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), Ship-
wreck at the Greek Fleet at Troy (Stockholm, Nationalmuseum), Fall of Icarus
(Stockholm, Nationalmuseum), and Wide Landscape with Travellers (Ger-
man private collection). This last painting especially, depicting a vast plain,
sea gulf, and a town, framed on both sides by Italian-fashioned houses, bears
the traces of Mompers training in Veneto in general and, more precisely,
at the studio of Toeput.
Although a stylistic analysis was crucial in recognizing Mompers appren-
ticeship at Toeput's workshop, similarities between some works by these artists
have occasionally led to their confusion. A good example is provided by a draw-
ing with a carnival scene from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (fig. 5).
For a long time it used to be identified as a work of Lodewijk Toeput. Terez
Gerszi, however, has pointed to its several features suggesting that, although
the general compositional idea came from Pozzoserrato, it was executed by his
Two Unknown
Paintings...
4 The debate on Joos de Mompers Italian journey is thoroughly presented in the artist's
monograph by Klaus Ertz. Ertz, Josse de Momper..., pp. 321-331. According to Ertz, the final
argument for this hypothetical trip was provided by Terez Gerszi with the attribution of frescoes
in the Roman Church of San Vitale, previously given to Paul Bril, to Joos de Momper. However,
the article in which this reattribution was meant to be published, does not finally deal with this
problem. Terez Gerszi, Joos de Momper und die Bruegel-Tradition [in:] Netherlandish Mannerism,
ed. Görel Cavalli-Björkman, Stockholm 1985, pp. 155-164.
5 Ertz, Josse de Momper... The overview of Joos de Momper's works in inventories pp. 50-59.
6 Rubens et son temps [exhibition catalogue], dir. Charles Sterling, Musee de 1'Orangerie
Paris, Paris 1936, p. 77.
7 Terez Gerszi, Joos de Momper als Zeichner. Teil 1, "Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen" 1993,
Bd. 3, pp. 176-177.
139