Herri met de Bles (also known as Herri de Dinant, Herry de Patinir, and Civetta) (born c. 1480/90 - c. 1550/60)
• Was a Flemish Northern Renaissance and Mannerist landscape painter.
• He was native of Bouvignes or Dinant.
• He is believed to be identical to a certain Herry de Patenir who joined Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke in 1535 as a painter.
• He may have been related to the landscape painter Joachim Patinir, perhaps as his nephew.
• His work was popular in Italy, where he was known as 'Civetta' because of the little owl that often appears in his paintings.
• The 17th-century biographer Karel van Mander regarded this motif as his signature.
• The name Herri met de Bles translates literally from Dutch as Herri with the blaze and was reportedly given him because of his characteristic white forelock.
• The notname of "Pseudo Bles" was invented to cover a number of Antwerp Mannerist paintings that had previously been attributed to de Bles, after it was recognised that this was wrong.
• Next