Who painted Landscape with Burning City?

Landscape with Burning City was painted by Herri met de Bles in 1500.

Where can I see Landscape with Burning City?

Landscape with Burning City is held by Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

What movement is Landscape with Burning City?

Landscape with Burning City is associated with Northern Renaissance.

Artwork

Landscape with Burning City

Herri met de Bles , 1500

Landscape with Burning City is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Herri met de Bles. It dates from 1500 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

This painting was part of Hermann Göring’s collection before entering the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, where it remains on display.

The work portrays a rugged coastal scene in which a burning city looms over a fleet of ships, a composition that blends realistic detail with allegorical suggestion of destruction and divine judgment. The flames and smoky horizon function symbolically to evoke themes of ruin and moral reckoning, while the inclusion of a vessel underscores contemporary maritime anxieties. This painting was part of Hermann Göring’s collection before entering the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, where it remains on display.

The iconography aligns with early sixteenth‑century landscape traditions that used fire and ruined architecture to comment on transience, and the depiction of a ship adds a layer of maritime symbolism tied to trade and exploration of the era.

Technique & Style

Landscape with Burning City is executed in oil paint on panel, a support and medium combination consistent with early sixteenth-century Netherlandish practice. The work is classified as a landscape painting and is dated to 1500. Its small format, 13.0 cm in height by 25.7 cm in width, and horizontal orientation suit a panoramic landscape composition, with ships and fire set within the scene.

The painting belongs to the landscape tradition associated with Herri met de Bles, whose small-scale, densely populated panoramic vistas typically feature narrative episodes such as conflagrations rendered in meticulous detail within expansive countryside settings.

Overview

Created around 1500 by the Flemish painter Herri met de Bles, this oil on canvas presents a panoramic view of a city ablaze. The composition is dominated by a sweeping landscape that recedes into the distance, while a tumult of vessels and flames occupies the foreground, drawing the eye toward the inferno consuming the urban center.

History & Provenance

The painting entered the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where it remains on view. Its attribution to Herri met de Bles aligns it with the artist’s broader output, which helped define landscape painting in the Northern Renaissance alongside contemporaries such as Joachim Patinir.