Herri met de Bles
Herri met de Bles (also known as Henri Blès, Herri de Dinant, Herry de Patinir, and Civetta) (c. 1510 – c. 1555–1560) was a Flemish Northern Renaissance and Mannerist landscape painter, native of Bouvignes or Dinant (present-day Belgium).[1]
Life
Very little is positively known about the artist. He is believed to be identical to a certain Herry de Patenir who joined Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke in 1535 as a painter. He may have been related to the landscape painter Joachim Patinir, although he may not have trained under him because of the age difference.[2]
He may have visited Italy but there is no documentary evidence for this. His work was popular in Italy, where he was known as ‘Civetta’ because of the little owl that often appears in his paintings (usually in a hollow tree or in a cavity between some rocks). The 17th-century biographer Karel van Mander regarded this motif as his signature.[3] The name Herri met de Bles translates literally from Dutch as Herri with the blaze and was reportedly given him because of his characteristic white forelock.[2]
Work
He contributed, along with Joachim Patinir, to a distinct style of Northern Renaissance landscape painting that combined small history or religious scenes into compositions defined by perspective and atmospheric effects. They both painted landscapes seen from a high viewpoint and rocky masses. They did not aim to create a realistic depiction but an atmospheric effect. Herri met de Bles always included a few small figures involved in mining activities, a religious episode or everyday activities such as agriculture or trade.
His landscapes are different from those of Patinir's in various aspects: de Bles' work shows more foreground landscapes, a looser composition and more detail. His choice of colours is generally less rich than that of Patinir.[3]
Along with a group of Antwerp-based followers of Hieronymus Bosch that included Jan Mandyn, Pieter Huys, and Jan Wellens de Cock, de Bles continued the tradition of fantastic imagery into northern Mannerism.
Trivia
In Richard Powers's novel, "The Gold Bug Variations (1991)," one of the main characters is working on a dissertation whose subject is Herri met de Bles. The obscurity of the painter as well as the weirdness of his imagery works into the motifs of the novel.
Notes
- ^ "Contribution of scientific methods to the understanding of the work of the 16th century painter, Henri Bles". Sciencedirect.com. 2 November 2004. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
- ^ a b Liechtenstein, the Princely Collections, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985, p. 279-280
- ^ a b Hans Devisscher: "Bles [Blesio, Blesius, Blessio; de Dinant, de Patinir], Herri met de [Henri, Henrico; Herry (met de)] [Civetta]" Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, [accessed 11 July 2014]
References
- Norman E. Muller (Ed.): Herri met de Bles: Studies and Explorations of the World Landscape Tradition. Brepols, Turnhout 1998, ISBN 0-943012-25-2
- Michel Weemans. "Herri met de Bles's sleeping peddler: an exegetical and anthropomorphic landscape". Art Bulletin, Sept 2006.
- Weemans, Michel. "Herri Met de Bles's Way to Calvary: A Silenic Landscape," Art History, 32,2 (2009), 307-331.
External links
- Long note on Landscape with the Conversion of Saul on the Road to Damascus, ca. 1545, Oberlin College
- Web Gallery of Art: Paintings by Herri met de Bles
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