Charon crossing the styx joachim patinir biography

Flemish painter (c. 1480 – 1524)

Joachim Patinir, also called Patenier (c. 1480 – 5 October 1524), was a Flemish Renaissance painter of history and landscape subjects. He was Flemish, from the area of modern Wallonia, but 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 Flemish 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'sGuild 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. In 1511, Patinir is believed to have travelled to Genoa with David and Adrien Ysenbrandt.

Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx

Joachim Patinir, 1520 — 1524
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

This magnificent panoramic landscape is a key work by the Antwerp painter Joachim Patinir. In the center of the painting, Charon paddles down the river Styx with the soul of a deceased person depicted as a tiny man. We see the moment when he has to choose between the difficult road to Paradise, a narrow channel with rocks on the left, or the easy road to Hell, a large navigable channel on the right, heading towards a false paradise that conceals Hell. With these elements from different traditions, the painting represents the choice between good and evil at the very moment of death.

In this painting, it is the magnificent landscape that most captures our attention. The painter showed a bird’s-eye view with a high horizon and the river Styx is used to vertically divide the composition, running straight from the bottom to an infinite distance. Patinir was a pioneer of landscape as an independent genre. While he generally collaborated with other Antwerp artists, this painting was entirely executed by his own hand, down to the smallest details.

—Véronique Bücken, Curator, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

The artist who painted this picture is known for his depictions of river landscapes. Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx was painted by Joachim Patinir in 1520. Do you know its meaning? Museum TV explains everything about this evocative painting... Before you start, here are the different names of the painting exhibited at the Prado Museum in Madrid: Crossing the Underworld, Landscape with Charon's Boat, Charon Crossing the Styx, Crossing the Styx

Hell or Heaven?

This representation is a fusion between a Greco-Roman scene and a Christian religious painting. The theme is religious, since the work evokes the path that, in the afterlife, takes souls to heaven or hell. But the representation of this divine choice is illustrated here with images that belong to ancient beliefs. Starting with the great river at the centre of the painting: the Styx.

In Greek mythology, it is seen as the point of passage that leads the dead to the afterlife. The man pushing the boat in the middle is Charon. This unkempt-looking mythological figure decides whether the soul he is carrying will go to hell or heaven. He can go to the left, to the long winding road that leads to heaven. The painter has installed angels, deer, unicorns and also idyllic orchards. A fountain dominates the scene, the fountain of life from which human existence springs.

Charon can also go to the right. Towards that sinister and fiery landscape that is hell. We see demons martyring souls. We also see, at the gates of this dark universe, a strange creature. It is Cerberus, the three-headed dog. The mythological beast prevents the dead from escaping from the underworld.

With this mixture of genres, the painter creates a suspenseful painting. Where will the passenger on Charon's boat end up? It's up to everyone to finish the scenario that the painting started... Finally, as late as possible!

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A horrible ferryman keeps these waters and streams / in fearful squalor, Charon, on whose chin stand enormous, / unkempt grey whiskers, his eyes stand out in flame and / a filthy garment dangles by a knot from his shoulders. / He punts the boat with his pole, handles the sails / and carries bodies across in his murky boat; he is / old now, but for a god old age is raw and green… This is how Virgil describes the Ferryman of the Underworld in his Aeneid… On the other hand, the painting of Charon crossing the Styx by Joachim Patinir presents us with a more serene image of Charon. While he still punts the boat with his pole, he does not exude the same fearsome aura as Virgil’s character. Instead, Patinir’s Charon appears more human and approachable, reflecting the artist’s tendency to soften the harsher elements of myth. https://www.pantheonpoets.com/poems/charon-the-ferryman/

Joachim Patinir’s Charon Crossing the Styx is a masterful example of Northern Renaissance art, encapsulating the technical prowess and the thematic depth characteristic of the period. Painted in the early 16th century, this work illustrates the mythological journey of Charon, the ferryman, transporting souls across the river Styx to the afterlife. Patinir, renowned for his innovative approach to landscape painting, uses the vast, meticulously detailed scenery to heighten the narrative’s dramatic tension. The interplay of light and shadow, combined with symbolic elements embedded within the landscape, invites viewers to explore themes of morality, judgment, and the human condition, making Charon Crossing the Styx a visual feast and a profound philosophical inquiry.

Joachim Patinir, born around 1480 in Dinant or Bouvignes, present-day Belgium, is a significant figure in the Northern Renaissance. Patinir trained and worked in Antwerp, which was a major cultural hub during his lifetime. Though not much is known about his personal life, records indicate