Joachim Patinir was Flemish artist born in Dinant on the area of contemporary Belgium and worked as a painter in Antwerp. He was registered in the guild of artists from Antwerp and after that remained living and working in this town for the rest of his life.
Only five of his signed paintings survived until today. Most of his paintings are not signed and dated, and some are too questionable whether they are authentic.
Joachim Patinir's greatest contribution is in the development of landscape painting. He was a close friend and contemporary of Albert Durer, who wrote about him "my friend and wonderful landscaping artist Joachim Patinir."
As was common practice in his time, Patinir painted his landscape paintings together with other artists who painted the figures in them. That's why, in some of his works, the human figures are rather odd and even inappropriate. One of the artists who added human figures to Joachim Patinir's landscapes was Quentin Metsys.
Patinir painted his landscapes at the same time with another great master and pioneer of this genre Albrecht Altdorfer. Most of Joachim Patinir's landscapes are large in format and saturated with relatively small human figures illustrating some biblical storyline or legend. In this respect, his paintings resemble those of Hieronymus Bosch, who painted a generation before him.