DOI article:
Tomalak, Mirosław: Two Unknown Paintings by Lodewijk Toeput and Joos de Momper the Younger
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.72800#0142
Warsaw we can find further details indicating the place and time of their execu-
tion, even if it is already proven by the date in the Winter landscape. On the river
in the latter painting one can see gondolas and on the left a bull running among
people. Next to regattas, soccer matches, and gang fist-fights these games with
a bull were a popular amusement of the Venetian lower classes. We can still find
their depictions even in the late 18th-century Venetian vedute. Furthermore, in the
summer scene, on the roof of the inn on the right-hand side, one can see a typi-
cal Venetian chimney: exactly the same as can be found in paintings by Vittore
Carpaccio (The Healing of the Madman, c. 1496, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia)
or Gentile Bellini (Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo, 1500, Ven-
ice, Gallerie dell'Accademia). These details (chimneys, gondolas, Venetian archi-
tecture) which prove that the images have evident ties to Veneto will reappear
much later in Momper's painting Towed Boat at the Latvian National Museum of
Arts in Riga, executed around 1620 with Jan Brueghel the Elder.
However, we can also have a look at the stylistic features of the landscape
to establish its authorship. The first indication here can be the way in which
the trees are painted: they are high and slender, with thin, bent branches. In the
Summer their foliage is not very dense, each leaf rendered with separate brush
strokes, and through them one can easily see the blue-grey sky. We will find the
same manner in many later summer landscapes with a harvest by Momper, i.e.,
in the Summer from the Nasjonalgalleriet in Oslo and in numerous paintings
from private collections.9 In the Winter from Warsaw the trees remain thin and
forked. To emphasize the season, Momper adds single white strokes on their
trunks, branches, and the remaining leaves. Such a technique is very close to the
way in which he renders ears of grain in his summer landscapes. And the trees
themselves can be easily compared with winter landscapes from the Sammlung
Vroom in Helmond, Waterman Gallery in Amsterdam, or the Liechtenstein Col-
lection in Vaduz/Vienna. This painting manner differs from Toeput's style. Fur-
thermore, another hint can be found in the entrance to houses and inns: in later
paintings by Joos de Momper they are always made up of two thick wooden poles
and an irregular beam clumsily placed on them (see e.g., Mountain Landscape
with Pilgrims and Travelling People, 1620s, Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle; Vil-
lage Street with Riders, 1620s, German private collection; Inn on the Country Road,
1620s, Italian private collection; Village in Winter with Horses and Carts, 1620s,
London, Richard Green Gallery). The same structure can be seen in the Summer
from the Warsaw private collection: in the house in the centre of the composition,
just behind the threshing peasants.
Up until now we have indicated mostly compositional details and stylistic
features which can prove the suggested authorship of the Warsaw paintings.
In the following chapter we will focus on their iconography, providing further
evidence confirming our statement.
9 See Ertz, Josse de Momper..., Kat. 321-331.
Two Unknown
Paintings...
141
tion, even if it is already proven by the date in the Winter landscape. On the river
in the latter painting one can see gondolas and on the left a bull running among
people. Next to regattas, soccer matches, and gang fist-fights these games with
a bull were a popular amusement of the Venetian lower classes. We can still find
their depictions even in the late 18th-century Venetian vedute. Furthermore, in the
summer scene, on the roof of the inn on the right-hand side, one can see a typi-
cal Venetian chimney: exactly the same as can be found in paintings by Vittore
Carpaccio (The Healing of the Madman, c. 1496, Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia)
or Gentile Bellini (Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo, 1500, Ven-
ice, Gallerie dell'Accademia). These details (chimneys, gondolas, Venetian archi-
tecture) which prove that the images have evident ties to Veneto will reappear
much later in Momper's painting Towed Boat at the Latvian National Museum of
Arts in Riga, executed around 1620 with Jan Brueghel the Elder.
However, we can also have a look at the stylistic features of the landscape
to establish its authorship. The first indication here can be the way in which
the trees are painted: they are high and slender, with thin, bent branches. In the
Summer their foliage is not very dense, each leaf rendered with separate brush
strokes, and through them one can easily see the blue-grey sky. We will find the
same manner in many later summer landscapes with a harvest by Momper, i.e.,
in the Summer from the Nasjonalgalleriet in Oslo and in numerous paintings
from private collections.9 In the Winter from Warsaw the trees remain thin and
forked. To emphasize the season, Momper adds single white strokes on their
trunks, branches, and the remaining leaves. Such a technique is very close to the
way in which he renders ears of grain in his summer landscapes. And the trees
themselves can be easily compared with winter landscapes from the Sammlung
Vroom in Helmond, Waterman Gallery in Amsterdam, or the Liechtenstein Col-
lection in Vaduz/Vienna. This painting manner differs from Toeput's style. Fur-
thermore, another hint can be found in the entrance to houses and inns: in later
paintings by Joos de Momper they are always made up of two thick wooden poles
and an irregular beam clumsily placed on them (see e.g., Mountain Landscape
with Pilgrims and Travelling People, 1620s, Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle; Vil-
lage Street with Riders, 1620s, German private collection; Inn on the Country Road,
1620s, Italian private collection; Village in Winter with Horses and Carts, 1620s,
London, Richard Green Gallery). The same structure can be seen in the Summer
from the Warsaw private collection: in the house in the centre of the composition,
just behind the threshing peasants.
Up until now we have indicated mostly compositional details and stylistic
features which can prove the suggested authorship of the Warsaw paintings.
In the following chapter we will focus on their iconography, providing further
evidence confirming our statement.
9 See Ertz, Josse de Momper..., Kat. 321-331.
Two Unknown
Paintings...
141