Henri Met de Bles

Herri met de Bles painted what are called world landscapes: huge panoramic views seen from high above, with jagged rocks, winding rivers, castles, mines and distant blue mountains, and a small biblical scene tucked somewhere inside. Finding the story is part of the pleasure. So is finding his little owl, a motif he often hid in a hollow tree or a crack in the rocks, which earned him the Italian nickname il Civetta.

He came from the Meuse valley around Dinant and Bouvignes, in present-day Belgium, and joined the Antwerp painters’ guild in 1533. His Dutch name means Herri with the blaze, after a white forelock. Following Joachim Patinir, he helped establish landscape as a subject in its own right, with fuller foregrounds and more detail. His paintings are in Namur, Antwerp, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Capodimonte in Naples.

In Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, find the Holy Family first, then start looking for the owl.