A rocky landscape with scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist,
oil on panel, 46 x 60 cm, framed

Provenance:
Julius Singer, London, until 1950;
with P. de Boer, Amsterdam, 1950;
sale, Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1973, lot 116 (as Cornelis van Dalem);
Private collection, Italy, until 2018

Literature:
D. Allart, 'Un paysagiste à découvrir: Cornelis van Dalem', in Revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art 62, Brussels 1993, p. 95-130

The present lot is characteristic work of the school of Antwerp landscape painting established by Joachim Patinir. In the mid ground, between the river bluffs, the artist depicts the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, with the Holy Spirit represented by a dove hovering overhead and God The Father in the clouds above. The foreground portrays a figural group with John The Baptist preaching, whilst a soldier in the garb of a contemporary Landsknecht holds an unsheathed sword, perhaps foreshadowing the preacher’s beheading.

Patinir came from Dinant in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, where the course of the river Meuse carves jagged rock formations from the landscape, as can be perceived in the present painting. The Baptisim of Christ, circa 1510/20, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, also depicting John the Baptist preaching is another treatment of the same subject.