Landscape with Sea and Mountains

Landscape with Sea and Mountain is an oil-on-canvas painting by Flemish painter Joos de Momper. It was painted in the early 1620s, and is now in the Museum of Prado in Madrid.

Painting
De Momper produced paintings that contained and highlighted both landscape and ordinary people engaged in common activities to varying degrees. He had some stock models which he repeated throughout his oeuvre. Such models were popular among the Flemings at the time. One of them entailed the depiction of a large landscape with some reduced figures in the foreground, carrying out everyday activities. In this painting, de Momper portrayed hunters, beggars and riders.

In the background, there is an extensive view of the mountains melding into the ocean, with a view of a gulf. The painting shows the imaginative work of the Flemish artist. Flanders is a quite flat land. Momper was part of a group of Baroque Flemish landscapists who painted larger, more fantastical and seemingly old-fashioned views than other landcapists. These always featured mountainous topography and exotic lands. Rather than the more realistic landscapists being innovators, it was painters like de Momper who painted more imaginary landscapes (which were paid more) to please the sophisticated tastes of patrons and art collectors.

In this painting, the influence of Pieter Bruegel the Elder is perceivable in many ways—notably, the high horizon.

This painting has been part of the Spanish Royal Collection since at least the beginning of the 18th century. In 1700, it was housed at the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid. Today, it is in the Museum of Prado in the same city.