Artwork

River landscape with boar hunt

River landscape with boar hunt, by Joos de Momper the Younger, oil, 1600
River landscape with boar hunt, by Joos de Momper the Younger, oil, 1600

River landscape with boar hunt is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Joos de Momper the Younger. It dates from 1600 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Joos de Momper's River Landscape with a Boar Hunt, painted around 1600, is an oil painting housed in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

The painting presents a panoramic river landscape that functions as a 'world landscape,' synthesizing diverse geographical elements such as hills, windmills, castles, and ports into a single imaginary composition rather than depicting a specific real-world location. The central narrative event is a boar hunt situated in the immediate foreground, where hunters on horseback and their dogs are shown killing a wild boar with realistic detail. This foreground is rendered in dark tones to contrast with the lighter hues of the distant background, which features a broad river with sailing ships, riverbanks, and additional wildlife including a deer, a magpie, and flocks of birds.

The work employs a high vantage point, a compositional strategy linking it to earlier traditions like Albrecht Altdorfer's battle scenes and Pieter Bruegel the Elder's winter landscapes. This elevated perspective allows for a comprehensive view of the terrain, distinguishing the piece from the lower viewpoints that would later become standard in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish landscape painting.

Technique & Style

The composition employs a high aerial viewpoint, arranging disparate terrain, river, bridge, cliffs, and a boar hunt in the foreground, into a unified panorama.

River Landscape with a Boar Hunt is executed in oil on a wooden panel, measuring 121 cm × 196.5 cm. The support is a panel, and the work belongs to the landscape painting genre. The composition employs a high aerial viewpoint, arranging disparate terrain, river, bridge, cliffs, and a boar hunt in the foreground, into a unified panorama. Brushwork is refined, with darker tones in the hunting scene contrasting the lighter atmospheric background, creating depth and a sense of spatial expansion, reflecting early 17th‑century Flemish landscape conventions.

History & Provenance

River landscape with a boar hunt is an oil painting on panel created in 1600 by Flemish artist Joos de Momper the Younger. The work was produced in the Southern Netherlands and exemplifies early river‑landscape compositions that combine varied terrain and a high viewpoint influenced by Altdorfer and Brueghel. It entered the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where it remains on display.

The painting measures 121 cm in height and 196.5 cm in width, and its subject includes a boar hunt in the foreground alongside assorted wildlife. The artwork is classified as a landscape painting within the Dutch Golden Age genre.

River Landscape with a Boar Hunt is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Created around 1600 by Joos de Momper the Younger, the oil painting on panel measures 121 cm in height and 196.5 cm in width. The work depicts a panoramic riverscape featuring a boar hunt in the foreground, utilizing a high viewpoint characteristic of the artist's early period before he shifted to lower perspectives typical of later seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish landscapes.

While the painting is a significant holding within the museum's landscape genre collections, the available records do not list specific inventory accession numbers or detail a chronological history of public exhibitions for this particular object.

Context

River Landscape with a Boar Hunt is regarded as an early example of the landscape genre that would flourish among later seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painters. Joos de Momper the Younger was distinguished for elaborating such panoramic compositions, combining disparate landscape elements, a hill with a windmill, a river, a mountaintop castle, boats, and a port city, into a single canvas rather than recording a specific observed site, a mode known as "world landscapes" (paisajes del mundo). The work also exemplifies a transitional moment in viewpoint: its elevated vantage aligns it with earlier precedents such as Albrecht Altdorfer's The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1528–1529) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Hunters in the Snow (1565), while de Momper himself subsequently adopted a lower perspective, helping establish the typical framing of seventeenth-century Netherlandish landscape painting, as seen in works like Ruisdael's Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede.

The painting has been discussed in standard reference works on de Momper and on reading Flemish painting, including Patrick de Rynck's study and a volume in the Espasa "Museos del Mundo" series devoted to the Rijksmuseum.

Legacy

The work stands as an early example of the landscape genre before it achieved widespread development in later generations of Dutch artists. It illustrates the artist's initial adherence to a high viewpoint, a compositional strategy shared with earlier masters like Albrecht Altdorfer and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This perspective contrasts with the artist's subsequent evolution toward a lower viewpoint, a shift that became a defining characteristic of seventeenth-century Flemish and Dutch landscapes.

The painting thus documents a critical transitional moment in the history of the genre, bridging earlier panoramic traditions with the more grounded compositions that would dominate the following century.

Overview

Joos de Momper's River Landscape with a Boar Hunt, painted around 1600, is an oil painting housed in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. This Flemish work depicts a dynamic riverside panorama, bustling with various activities. The central focus is a dramatic hunt unfolding on a rocky path, while numerous figures, vessels, and structures populate the expansive scene, illustrating a vibrant interaction between human activity and the natural world.

Wild boar hunt in a rocky landscape
Wild boar hunt in a rocky landscape, Roelant Savery

Artist & collection

Portrait of Joos de Momper the Younger

Artist

Joos de Momper the Younger

Joos de Momper the Younger or Joost de Momper the Younger (c. 1564 – 5 February 1635) was a Flemish landscape painter active in Antwerp between the late 16th century and the early 17th century. Brueghel's influence is…

Rijksmuseum

Museum

Rijksmuseum

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Frequently asked questions

Who painted River landscape with boar hunt?

River landscape with boar hunt was painted by Joos de Momper the Younger in 1600-01-01.

Where can I see River landscape with boar hunt?

River landscape with boar hunt is held by Rijksmuseum.

What movement is River landscape with boar hunt?

River landscape with boar hunt is associated with Flemish Baroque painting.

Can I buy a print of River landscape with boar hunt?

Museum-quality prints of River landscape with boar hunt are available made-to-order from Artifact World Gallery.