Joachim Patinir

Joachim Patinir, also called Patenier ( – 5 October 1524), was a Flemish Renaissance painter of history and landscape subjects. He was born in Wallonia, but in his mature career worked in Antwerp, then the centre of the art market in the Low Countries. Patinir was a pioneer of landscape as an independent genre and he was the first Netherlandish painter to regard himself primarily as a landscape painter. He effectively invented the world landscape, a distinct style of panoramic northern Renaissance landscapes which is Patinir's important contribution to Western art. His work marks an important stage in the development of the representation of perspective in landscape painting.

Patinir was a friend of not only Dürer, but also of the leading Antwerp painter Quentin Metsys, with whom he often collaborated. The Temptation of St Anthony (Prado) was executed in collaboration with Metsys, who added the figures to Patinir's landscape. His career was nearly contemporary with that of Albrecht Altdorfer, the other major pioneer of paintings dominated by the landscape, who worked in a very different style. He may have been the uncle of Herri met de Bles, but there is not a single piece of contemporary evidence to support it. De Bles was probably only 14(?) when Patinir died, and his style was quite different, although both came from Dinant. The latter is the only fact connecting the two artists at the moment.

Life and work

Originally from Dinant or Bouvignes in present-day Wallonia, Belgium, Patinir was registered as a member of Antwerp's Guild of Saint Luke in 1515. He lived and worked in Antwerp for the rest of his life. He may have initially studied in Bruges with Gerard David, who registered as a member of the Antwerp Guild in the same year as Patinir.

Patinir often let his landscapes dwarf his figures, which are of very variable quality. The larger ones were sometimes painted by other artists.