1108 - BLES, HERRI MET DE

BLES, HERRI MET DE Around 1500 Flanders–1560 Italy Title: Riverscape with Christ on the Road to Emmaus. Date: Around 1530. Technique: Oil on panel. Measurement: Diameter painting: 26.5 cm. Diameter frame: 36 cm. Reverse: On the panel two numbered labels (244 / 479) as well as collection label 'Sammlung M.v.Nemes'. Should a so far hidden painting of a famour painter become known, it always is a sensation: each work being like a mosaic tile contributes to refining the angle in which its creator and their oeuvre is viewed after all. This holds even truer if its creator is a painter of the early modern age whose life and works still ishighly riddled, whose influence on his contemporaries and descendants however is undisputable. Hence, we are overjoyed to introduce a small tondo of the Flemish Renaissance painter Herri met de Bles here. It is dated by Luc Serck, corresponding to the version similart to this one at the Antwerp museum van den Bergh, to ca. 1530/1540 and has continuously been in family ownership ever since the 1930s. The biography of Herri met de Bles' has not really been sorted to date. He was liekly born in Bouvigne, near Dinant in Flanders. Researchers disagree whethere Herr met de Bles was a relative and scholar of the great Joachim Patinir or rather his competitor. Had this painter lived in Italy for a longer period of time in the 1520s and stayed there permanently from 1530 on where he supposedly died in 1560? Or did he keep a flourishing workshop in Antwerp? It is safe to say that Herri met de Bles has poignantly influenced the early modern art of landscape painting with his world landscapes in the succession of Joachim Patinir. Also, that he obtained wide recogntion in Italy is beyond dispute. There he was known by the name 'Civetta' (little screech owl); with this bird several of his works are signed. Already in the 17th century Herri met de Bles was described as 'celebratissimo' in Italy. In Herri met de Bles' paintings the frequently religious content optically subordinate to the far-flung landsapes that are delicately painted even in their depths. The viewer is invited to let their eyes wander through the small scales that are concepted to for close-up views and to discover ever new delicate details as well as thematic references. In the present tondo the pictorial ground and the frame are worked as a unit from an oak board; a special feature that repeatedly appears in the painter's work. Even the optical division of the landscape is completely typical of Herri met de Bles: in the left image half and in its middle ground a rugged hillock crowned by a castle rises. In the foreground, the viewer can find the resurrected Christ, as a small figure, framed by both of his disciples, on the way to Emmaus. Approximately in the image centre, the rugged cliffs border a body of water that stretches far to the image margin of the front. With most delicate details the artist has painted the shells at the beach and the waves. Fishermen are pulling in their nets at the sea; a bridge spans across the water, the eye may roam into the distance and is only bound by a mountain range at the horizon. From this one, the domes and battlements of Jerusalem are towering; this is where Jesus' companions have departed. In the foreground trees with most finely painted foliage are standing at the right bank, above these agricultural plains with plowing farmers and a sheperd with sheep are spreading out. Even in the most distant depths, the depiction of everyday life with details and people is meticulously crafted. Herri met de Bles has chosen the way to Emmaus as a main theme of his paintings on multiple occasions as well as he has thematically combined this episode from the Gospel of Luke with motifs from John's Gospel. There the fishing in the Lake of Tiberias at the behest of the resurected Christ is reported as well as the request "Feed my lambs". In the Gospel of Luke Jesus speaks of the plowing farmers then again. These motifs from everyday life can be read within the context of the gospels as a mission of the succestion of Christ and were known to the the theologically versed 16th century observer. We are grateful to Luc Serck, Brussels, for confirming the attribution of the present painting on basis of a high-resolution digital photograph. Provenance: Private ownership, Germany; Auction Nemes collection: Hugo Helbing, Munich 2nd November 1933, lot 26; Marcell von Nemes collection, Budapest and Munich: auction Rudolph Lepke, Berlin 7th November 1916, lot 74 (as Herri met de Bles). Estimated shipping costs for this lot: The lot is unsuitable for parcel shipping. Transport only by shipping company after consultation following the auction. additional shipping insurance Shipping insurance up to total invoice amount of 25,000 Euros: max. 41.65 Euro over a total invoice amount of 25,000 Euros: 1.8 o/oo USA by individual arrangement after the auction. #Herri met de Bles #Flemish School #Flanders