Cornelis van Dalem was a Flemish painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp in the middle of the 16th century and an important contributor to the development of landscape art in the Low Countries. Van Dalem introduced into landscape painting new themes, which he derived from his humanistic education, and searched for new ways of representing his themes.
Details about his life are scarce. He was likely born in Antwerp. His father was a nobleman originally from Tholen who had moved to Antwerp where he was operating as a cloth merchant. His father was active in the local Chamber of rhetoric 'De Olyftack' in Antwerp and was the chamber's dean in 1552–3. The van Dalem family was a cultured family. Cornelis and his older brother Lodewijk likely enjoyed a humanistic education and were both trained as painters with the obscure artist Jan Adriaensens. Cornelis commenced his training in 1543 and became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in 1556. The same year married Beatrix van Liedekercke, a member of a wealthy family.
Despite being a member of the Guild of Saint Luke, Cornelis van Dalem only practiced painting as an amateur and he remained a merchant his entire career. He was independently wealthy and did not need to rely on his art to make a living. However, he regarded art as an important part of his life as is demonstrated by the way he decorated the facade of his Antwerp residence. Cornelis had the façade of his house decorated with a splendour not seen in Northern Europe. The façade had a relief of the goddess Pictura in front of an easel, of Minerva and Mercury as well the stone busts of Durer and Jan van Eyck with laudatory inscriptions.
Bartholomäus Spranger was a registered pupil of van Dalem from 1560 to 1564. Van Dalem appears not to have been concerned much about teaching Spranger the art of painting but more about ensuring that his apprentice kept his studio clean and tidy. At the end of his four years of apprenticeship, Spranger is said to have been frustrated about his lack of progress. Around this time there were also increasing rumours about the possible heretical leanings of the van Dalem household: it was said they never went to the Catholic Church but rather attended Protestant gatherings. These rumours appear to have forced the van Dalems to leave Antwerp and settle on a castle near Breda. Accusations of heresy were said to have been reiterated against Cornelis in 1571 and he may have given refuge to a radical sect of Anabaptists. He died in Breda in 1573.
Only a few works by Cornelis van Dalem are known. The majority of these are landscapes. His oeuvre also includes a few genres scenes and possibly an architectural painting of a church interior. He is considered one of the possible candidates for the authorship of the series of landscape drawings attributed to the Master of the Small Landscapes. The importance of van Dalem lies in the fact that he introduced into landscape painting new themes (such as the origin of civilization), which he derived from his humanistic education, and his innovative way of representing his themes.
Van Dalem is known to have collaborated regularly with his fellow artists who painted the staffage in his landscapes or architectural paintings. His most regular collaborator was Jan van Wechelen with whom at least three collaborations are suspected. He further worked with Gillis Mostaert (who may have painted the staffage in the Landscape with Farmhouse, Alte Pinakothek). as well as with Joachim Beuckelaer.
The early 17th century artist biographer Karel van Mander called van Dalem an excellent painter of rocks ('fraye schilder van rotsen'). And indeed several of his landscape paintings feature extensive rock parties with grottos. Examples are the Landscape with Adam and Eve of 1564 (Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts) and the Landscape with herders of c. 1560 (Prado Museum). Van Dalem's rock landscapes often include a grotto where some human activity is going on. These works had an influence on Joos de Momper who was an important adept of the genre and created about 70 paintings of this motif.
One of the most ambitious grotto scenes painted by van Dalem was the composition referred to as The dawn of civilization (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen). In this complex composition van Dalem attempts to depict the origin of human civilization, a very challenging topic for a painting. Only one artist is known to have attempted this subject matter before: the Italian Piero di Cosimo who painted a number of paintings of the state of mankind just before the onset of civilization one of which is in the Ashmolean Museum. Di Cosimo's works deal with the history of early man and derive their visual inspiration from passages in Book 5 of De rerum natura by Lucretius (98-c.55BC), in which the role of fire is emphasized in the origins of life on earth and the birth of community life. Di Cosimo stresses the devastating effects of uncontrolled fire in his composition.

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