These are paintings by the hand of Joachim Patinir (c. 1480 – 1524), a Flemish Northern history and landscape painter. Patinir was propably the first painter who saw himself making independent landscapes, instead of biblical scenes in which the landscape only played a decorative function. As you can judge from the miniature scale of the figures, Patinir fiercely tried to reduce the biblical connotation to the minimum. The painting below, titled 'Flight into Egypt', is part of the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and can be admired there every day. Do not get fooled by this reproduction, the small dimensions in contrast with the painfully accurate details make that you never get tired of looking at this masterwork. A perfect scenery for some Faller trains if you ask me!
