PAINTING AND REMEMBRANCE
Patinir’s Flight into Egypt
by Trudi Beyer
It happened in the Egyptian room when I was talking to a group of third-graders. A flash of color from the adjoining Northern Renaissance gallery caught my eye. It had come from the painting of The Flight into Egypt, possibly by Joachim Patinir, which had been one of the gems of my parents' collection. Suddenly I remembered that my mother had bought that painting when I was the age of these third-graders, and probably did a better job of talking about it than I was doing right now.
My parents had been collecting Gothic wood sculptures for a number of years when they were informed in 1929 that the collection of the Munich painter Fritz von Haulbeck was going to be auctioned. My two sisters and I, as well as my parents, had been born in Munich; but my father's career in academic medicine had necessitated our moving from Munich to Düsseldorf. Mother was always homesick, and never lost the chance to go back, especially as our grandparents lived there. So my parents went off to the auction. I remember how happy I was when they returned with a lovely painting of The Flight into Egypt, picturing the Holy Family in a landscape similar to that of the Rhineland, where we were living. I liked it so much better than the fragile Gothic sculptures that we were forbidden to touch.
The painting always hung in my father's study in Düsseldorf, and later in Boston, where my family immigrated in 1935. In 1941 my parents loaned it to Johns Hopkins University for an exhibit called "Landscape Painting from Patinir to Hubert Robert." Later on, they had George Stout, conservator at the Fogg Art Museum, transfer it from the original wood panel to Masonite.
On my father's death in 1962, the painting passed to my younger sister. Last year my sister and her husband decided to donate it to a teaching museum. Because the Fogg did not have the space to hang it permanently, my sister, to my great delight, offered it to the Memorial Art Gallery. Candace Adelson, our Curator of European Art, researched its origin from sources at Princeton, the Louvre, and the National Gallery, with the verdict that it is the product of the circle of Patinir, painted about 1515. (My mother had researched the painting in 1929, and always felt that it had been painted in Patinir's workshop, with the figures done by Joos van Cleve.)
Joachim Patinir was born about 1475 in Dinaut, Flanders, near the river Maas (Meuse). He went to Antwerp in 1515 and was received into the painters' guild. At this time, Antwerp had superseded Bruges as the center of Flemish art and had become the largest port in Europe, even busier than Venice. Commerce had created a wealthy middle class able to commission paintings.
The 15th-century artists of the Bruges school, such as the van Eyck brothers, Roger van der Weyden, and Gerard David, painted mostly religious subjects and portraits. Their colors were brilliant and their lines clear, with emphasis on detail. Landscapes were usually incidental, often seen through an open window. Towards the end of the 15th century, knowledge of the world was changing rapidly. Bold explorers set out for unknown lands, scientists discovered new techniques such as printing, and humanists such as Erasmus led the Northern Renaissance. Thus it was natural for artists to discover that the world around them was full of interest and beauty, and they broke away from traditional Biblical themes and figures.
There are only four paintings actually signed "Patinir." This may be due to the fact that Patinir collaborated with Joos van Cleve and Quentin Massys by painting landscapes as background for their subjects. The landscape in my parents' painting depicts a semi-imaginary scene with meandering rivers, protruding rocks, and rural houses reminiscent of the hilly and rocky region around Patinir's birthplace. The colors of the painting are typical of his landscapes—earthy brown foregrounds merge into woodland and meadow greens, and then into the hazy blue horizon. The figures of the Holy Family are still of primary importance, but only secondary in terms of space. The painting is horizontal, also stressing the landscape. Before the painting was conserved, it had a single idol falling from a column. Cleaning revealed a fountain with two idols falling down!
Dürer visited Patinir in 1521 in Antwerp and drew his likeness. He called Patinir "the good landscape painter." Patinir was also called the first landscape painter. Flight into Egypt is a beautiful example of his work, and it enriches our gallery.
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