Josse de Momper

Joos de Momper the Younger
Portrait of Joos de Momper c. 1632-1641, by Anthony van Dyck.
Born	Joos de Momper 1564 Antwerp
Died	1635 Antwerp
Known for	Painting

Joos de Momper the Younger or Joost de Momper the Younger [alternative spellings of first name: Jodocus, Joes, Joeys and Josse] (1564–1635) was one of the foremost Flemish landscape painters between Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens. Brueghel's influence is clearly evident in many of de Momper's paintings.

He was born in an artistic family of Antwerp and was named after his grandfather who was a landscape painter. He learned to paint from his father Bartholomeus de Momper who was a painter and print publisher. In 1581 he became a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke at only 17 years old. It is assumed that in the 1580s he travelled to Italy to study.

De Momper enjoyed high-level patronage as is shown by the fact that Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, the governor of Flanders, sent in 1616 a letter to the Antwerp magistrate asking him to excuse de Momper from the payment of taxes and fees. His works were often featured in the prestigious gallery paintings of collections (real and imagined) from the early seventeenth century.

His registered pupils were Louis de Caullery and his son Philippe de Momper. His followers were Frans de Momper and Hercules Seghers.

He was mentioned by Karel van Mander in his Schilder-boeck and his likeness was engraved by Anthony van Dyck.

De Momper primarily painted landscapes, the genre for which he was highly regarded during his lifetime. Only a small number of the 500 paintings attributed to de Momper are signed and just one is dated. The large output points to substantial workshop participation. He often collaborated with figure painters such as Frans Francken II, Pieter Snayers, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan Brueghel the Younger, usually on large, mountainous landscapes, whereby the other painters painted the staffage and de Momper the landscape.