Flämischer Meister des 16. Jahrhunderts

Flemish master of the 16th century St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child Oil on wood. 30 x 39 cm. Provenance Belgian private collection. St. Christopher, the medieval saint of intercession, was depicted by numerous painters. At the beginning of the 16th century, a large part of the population believed that evil could be averted by looking at the image of the mythical St. Christopher. The spectacular landscape with its rugged rock formations is based on compositions of the same theme by Joachim Patinir (around 1480 Dinant or Bouvignes - before 1524 Antwerp). Patinir is considered the first landscape painter in the Netherlands. As in Patinir's work, the present landscape is painted from a bird's eye view, which allows the landscape to unfold in all its aspects. The giant Christophorus served as the patron saint of travelers, ferrymen, boatmen and sailors. It was believed that you could not die on the day you saw his image. During the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, life-size images of the saint could be seen in market squares and churches.