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Lot Essay
This picture is an exquisite example of Jan Brueghel the Younger's characteristic allegories of the Elements set in a landscape. Surrounding the central figure of Abundance, Water, Earth, Air and Fire are shown as elegantly draped personifications. The airborne couple hovering to the left of the picture stands for Fire and Air: Fire, holding a candle, can be identified as Vesta, the Roman goddess of hearth and home, holding the sacred flame that her Virgins were charged to keep perpetually alight; at her side is Air, holding a phoenix. On the shore, Water, personified by the ocean goddess Amphitrite, stands holding a seashell from which a stream flows. Showing her back to the viewer, Earth, crowned with a flower garland that identifies her as the goddess Flora, proffers a fruit to the regally seated central figure of Abundance. With a garland of corns adorning her hair, identifying her as the fertility goddess Ceres, and holding a cornucopia, Abundance effectively functions as a summary of the infinite gifts dispensed by Nature to mankind through all four elements. This sense of plenty and opulence is conveyed throughout the picture plane by the complex arrangement of flowers, fruits, vegetables, birds, fishes and crustaceans, all depicted with remarkable verisimilitude. This extravagant still-life showcases Brueghel’s skill at conveying varied textures and fine details.
Jan Brueghel the Younger probably trained in his father’s workshop. He travelled to Italy, but after the sudden death of his father due to a cholera epidemic in Antwerp, he returned to the Netherlands, and by early August 1625 he was back in Antwerp, where he took over his father’s studio. The present picture is a version of the composition of circa 1615 by Jan Brueghel the Elder, now in the Prado, Madrid, although the right hand edge has been omitted, placing the figures more centrally in the composition. The Madrid picture is, in turn, based on the earlier composition of 1604 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The figures in both of the above paintings were completed by Hendrik van Balen, with whom both father and son collaborated. Another version of the Prado composition was sold, Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2000, lot 49 (£531,500), while a fourth, which Ertz accepts as possibly autograph and dates also to circa 1615 (op. cit., no. 301, pp. 365 and 607), was with Leonard Koetser, London, 1958.
We are grateful to Dr. Klaus Ertz for confirming the attribution to Jan Brueghel the Younger on the basis of first-hand inspection. He dates the picture to the early 1630s, and believes the figures to be by a close follower of Hendrik van Balen (written communication, April 2015). Jan Brueghel is known to have worked with numerous other painters, including Rubens, Teniers and van Kessel (see K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Jüngere, Freren, 1984, pp. 78-89).
Jan Brueghel the Younger probably trained in his father’s workshop. He travelled to Italy, but after the sudden death of his father due to a cholera epidemic in Antwerp, he returned to the Netherlands, and by early August 1625 he was back in Antwerp, where he took over his father’s studio. The present picture is a version of the composition of circa 1615 by Jan Brueghel the Elder, now in the Prado, Madrid, although the right hand edge has been omitted, placing the figures more centrally in the composition. The Madrid picture is, in turn, based on the earlier composition of 1604 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The figures in both of the above paintings were completed by Hendrik van Balen, with whom both father and son collaborated. Another version of the Prado composition was sold, Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2000, lot 49 (£531,500), while a fourth, which Ertz accepts as possibly autograph and dates also to circa 1615 (op. cit., no. 301, pp. 365 and 607), was with Leonard Koetser, London, 1958.
We are grateful to Dr. Klaus Ertz for confirming the attribution to Jan Brueghel the Younger on the basis of first-hand inspection. He dates the picture to the early 1630s, and believes the figures to be by a close follower of Hendrik van Balen (written communication, April 2015). Jan Brueghel is known to have worked with numerous other painters, including Rubens, Teniers and van Kessel (see K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Jüngere, Freren, 1984, pp. 78-89).