Jan BRUEGHEL (1568-1625)
including his son Jan the younger
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Flemish art Oil on copper
Chronology : 1630-1639
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Flemish art Oil on copper
Chronology : 1630-1639
1595 Jonah
2018 SOLD for £ 2M by Sotheby's
Pieter Bruegel dies in 1569. His two sons Pieter and Jan are very young. Their art education is careful and their grandmother certainly ensures their knowledge of the art of Pieter the Elder. When they start their career, they sign Brueghel to differentiate the generations.
Pieter the Younger makes copies and re-interpretations from the works of their father. Jan prefers original themes and stays in Italy from 1590 to 1596, in Naples and then in Rome and Milan.
An oil on copper 26 x 35 cm painted by Jan in Italy, part of the cycle of Jonah, was sold by Sotheby's for £ 1.07M on December 3, 2008 and for £ 2M on December 5, 2018, lot 11. It is signed Brueghel and dated 1595. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This work from the youth of Jan voluntarily juxtaposes two contradictory lights, perhaps to exercise his know-how.
On the left, brightly lit by the sun, the coastal villages are inspired by the south of Italy. In the foreground, fishermen sell their catches. This scene as well as the animated beach a little further anticipates one of the favorite themes of the artist.
The rest of the picture is a marine in the darkness under a terrible stormy sky. In this space Jonah is thrown overboard from a small boat.
Pieter the Younger makes copies and re-interpretations from the works of their father. Jan prefers original themes and stays in Italy from 1590 to 1596, in Naples and then in Rome and Milan.
An oil on copper 26 x 35 cm painted by Jan in Italy, part of the cycle of Jonah, was sold by Sotheby's for £ 1.07M on December 3, 2008 and for £ 2M on December 5, 2018, lot 11. It is signed Brueghel and dated 1595. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This work from the youth of Jan voluntarily juxtaposes two contradictory lights, perhaps to exercise his know-how.
On the left, brightly lit by the sun, the coastal villages are inspired by the south of Italy. In the foreground, fishermen sell their catches. This scene as well as the animated beach a little further anticipates one of the favorite themes of the artist.
The rest of the picture is a marine in the darkness under a terrible stormy sky. In this space Jonah is thrown overboard from a small boat.
1596 Paradise
2015 SOLD for $ 4M by Sotheby's
Pieter Bruegel died in 1569, leaving two infant sons who became artists in their turn. Their careers are so different that the elder was nicknamed Hell Brueghel and the younger Paradise Brueghel. Pieter Brueghel of Hell exploited the models created by his father along with significant additions.
Jan Brueghel made a long stay in Italy at the time when Baroque succeeded Mannerism. He obtained the patronage of the very young Cardinal Federico Borromeo who became archbishop of Milan in 1595. More intellectual than theologian, Cardinal Borromeo will be in 1609 the founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.
Inspired by the art and landscapes of Italy, Jan Brueghel painted around 1594 his first views of Paradise, with flexible design and pleasant colors. Certainly conceived to appeal the Cardinal, they show the variety of the animals in their heavenly vicinity, in a loose interpretation of Creation and Ark. Paradise will remain one of his favorite themes throughout his career.
An oil on copper 27 x 36 cm was sold for $ 4M by Sotheby's on January 29, 2015, lot 54. Dated 1596, this painting was probably made before Jan returned to Flanders in the same year.
The scene is loaded with symbols. The gentle animals are divided between the foreground and the ark where all will find a place. Wise travelers walk in the same direction. In the background of the scene, the festive village of sinners is a sequel to the moral style of the artist's father.
Jan Brueghel made a long stay in Italy at the time when Baroque succeeded Mannerism. He obtained the patronage of the very young Cardinal Federico Borromeo who became archbishop of Milan in 1595. More intellectual than theologian, Cardinal Borromeo will be in 1609 the founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.
Inspired by the art and landscapes of Italy, Jan Brueghel painted around 1594 his first views of Paradise, with flexible design and pleasant colors. Certainly conceived to appeal the Cardinal, they show the variety of the animals in their heavenly vicinity, in a loose interpretation of Creation and Ark. Paradise will remain one of his favorite themes throughout his career.
An oil on copper 27 x 36 cm was sold for $ 4M by Sotheby's on January 29, 2015, lot 54. Dated 1596, this painting was probably made before Jan returned to Flanders in the same year.
The scene is loaded with symbols. The gentle animals are divided between the foreground and the ark where all will find a place. Wise travelers walk in the same direction. In the background of the scene, the festive village of sinners is a sequel to the moral style of the artist's father.
#AuctionUpdate: Jan Brueghel the Elder’s "Paradise Landscape" achieves $3.9M #MastersWeek pic.twitter.com/5YzsGNy8a3
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) January 29, 2015
Still Life of Flowers
1
breakthrough
1606
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
A precocious artist, Jan Brueghel found patrons in Italy. Back in Antwerp in 1596, he remains in touch with the young cardinal Federico Borromeo recently appointed Archbishop of Milan.
Tastes change. Religious wars bring a political suspicion towards religious themes. In Prague Rudolf II prefers the observation of nature to his political commitments. Hoefnagel draws and paints for that emperor some collections of flowers and animals.
Borromeo desired a representation of blossoms in the whole variety of their shapes and colors for brightening his living throughout the year, so enjoying nature even outside the blooming period.
Brueghel's artistic process is documented by his 1606 letters to Borromeo while a prototype painting was in progress.
After choosing the varieties of the flowers, he had to wait for their blossoming which was not simultaneous, in spring and summer. Each bloom in its full glorious development was added in its turn on the copper in a pre-defined position. They were drawn from nature without an intermediary drawing. In his quest for exactness he had also travelled to Brussels to observe some blossoms which were not available in Antwerp.
The referred masterpiece is now kept at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
It is an oil on copper 65 x 45 cm, a very large size for this technique at that time. The great variety of brilliant colors met the expectation of the cardinal. The overcrowding of the flowers in the vase is unrealistic : it is an artistic trick to escape the didactic alignments of Hoefnagel. Brueghel's intention was not mystical or scientific. He desired to compare the beauty of the flowers to that of gemstones and paid the utmost attention to colors and light. He was obviously happy with his achievement.
The major picture from the next year 1607 is now kept at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is a 51 x 40 cm oil on panel, the best technique after the copper for the precision of the brushwork and the conservation of the pigments, less demanding in terms of skills. Customers were appealed by this novelty and Brueghel certainly painted a few panels in parallel.
A still life of flowers passed at Sotheby's on July 7, 2021, lot 13. Its composition and size are nearly identical as the Vienna specimen. It displays 44 botanical varieties softly lit from the left on a plain dark background. The artist added a few diamonds and sapphires on the ledge instead of the shells and coins of the Milan specimen.
This piece is the earliest Flemish still life of flowers with a painted date. Unfortunately this inscription has been overpainted and the experts do not converge on the original last digit.
Tastes change. Religious wars bring a political suspicion towards religious themes. In Prague Rudolf II prefers the observation of nature to his political commitments. Hoefnagel draws and paints for that emperor some collections of flowers and animals.
Borromeo desired a representation of blossoms in the whole variety of their shapes and colors for brightening his living throughout the year, so enjoying nature even outside the blooming period.
Brueghel's artistic process is documented by his 1606 letters to Borromeo while a prototype painting was in progress.
After choosing the varieties of the flowers, he had to wait for their blossoming which was not simultaneous, in spring and summer. Each bloom in its full glorious development was added in its turn on the copper in a pre-defined position. They were drawn from nature without an intermediary drawing. In his quest for exactness he had also travelled to Brussels to observe some blossoms which were not available in Antwerp.
The referred masterpiece is now kept at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
It is an oil on copper 65 x 45 cm, a very large size for this technique at that time. The great variety of brilliant colors met the expectation of the cardinal. The overcrowding of the flowers in the vase is unrealistic : it is an artistic trick to escape the didactic alignments of Hoefnagel. Brueghel's intention was not mystical or scientific. He desired to compare the beauty of the flowers to that of gemstones and paid the utmost attention to colors and light. He was obviously happy with his achievement.
The major picture from the next year 1607 is now kept at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is a 51 x 40 cm oil on panel, the best technique after the copper for the precision of the brushwork and the conservation of the pigments, less demanding in terms of skills. Customers were appealed by this novelty and Brueghel certainly painted a few panels in parallel.
A still life of flowers passed at Sotheby's on July 7, 2021, lot 13. Its composition and size are nearly identical as the Vienna specimen. It displays 44 botanical varieties softly lit from the left on a plain dark background. The artist added a few diamonds and sapphires on the ledge instead of the shells and coins of the Milan specimen.
This piece is the earliest Flemish still life of flowers with a painted date. Unfortunately this inscription has been overpainted and the experts do not converge on the original last digit.
_-_Vase_of_Flowers_with_Jewellery,_Coins_and_Shells_-_WGA03593.jpg)
2
1608
2016 SOLD for £ 3.85M by Sotheby's
A large oil on oak panel 67 x 51 cm was sold for £ 3.85M by Sotheby's on July 6, 2016, lot 11. It is a slightly later development with a looser and more pleasing arrangement of the flowers, dated circa 1608 by experts. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The artist gave up soon although not before 1611 the painting of flowers by direct observation and these early works will then serve as modelli. The goal remains decorative. Other artists will add the use of flowers and small animals as symbols and also the arrangements inside wreaths.
The artist gave up soon although not before 1611 the painting of flowers by direct observation and these early works will then serve as modelli. The goal remains decorative. Other artists will add the use of flowers and small animals as symbols and also the arrangements inside wreaths.
#AuctionUpdate Outstanding Jan Brueghel the Elder work blossoms in the sale room to record for a still-life at £3.8m pic.twitter.com/QE6mt1AwyG
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 6, 2016
1610 Weltlandschaft
2018 SOLD for £ 3.6M by Christie's
Jan Brueghel becomes in 1606 official painter at the court of the governors of the Netherlands, Albrecht and Isabella von Habsburg. He now divides his time between Brussels and Antwerp. In 1609 the Twelve Years' Truce temporarily puts an end to the open conflicts although religious tensions remain. Jan then offers his clients serene paintings in line with the restart of rural prosperity.
He thus continues the tradition of the Weltlandschaft by which his predecessors such as Patinir and Met de Bles had composed imaginary landscapes which served as models for the backgrounds of the narrative scenes. All the elements are carefully structured : the busy road, the wide river, the vast countryside where villages and chapels nestle, and the mountain on the horizon.
He is one of the best artists of his time, with a palette of vivid and varied colors. On the road the animation responds to a catalog of motifs including travelers, horses, cattle, dogs and wagons. Compared to the classic Weltlandschaft, he takes a lower viewpoint that highlights the picturesque scene in the foreground.
Many of these views are painted on small copper plates with a bright impasto. One of the largest, 53 x 72 cm, signed Brueghel and dated 1610, was sold for £ 3.6M by Christie's on December 6, 2018, lot 23.
A Summer landscape with tilt carts, oil on copper 25 x 37.5 cm painted in 1612 by Jan Brueghel, was sold for $ 2M by Christie's on January 25, 2023, lot 123. This typical imaginary Weltlandschaft is in the same style of composition and color gradations as the example above while all the details differ. The road to the hill is superseding the river bank and the carts follow one another at a distance.
The nickname Fluwelen Brueghel often used to designate Jan the elder is consistent with the exquisite atmosphere and light of that series of paintings.
He thus continues the tradition of the Weltlandschaft by which his predecessors such as Patinir and Met de Bles had composed imaginary landscapes which served as models for the backgrounds of the narrative scenes. All the elements are carefully structured : the busy road, the wide river, the vast countryside where villages and chapels nestle, and the mountain on the horizon.
He is one of the best artists of his time, with a palette of vivid and varied colors. On the road the animation responds to a catalog of motifs including travelers, horses, cattle, dogs and wagons. Compared to the classic Weltlandschaft, he takes a lower viewpoint that highlights the picturesque scene in the foreground.
Many of these views are painted on small copper plates with a bright impasto. One of the largest, 53 x 72 cm, signed Brueghel and dated 1610, was sold for £ 3.6M by Christie's on December 6, 2018, lot 23.
A Summer landscape with tilt carts, oil on copper 25 x 37.5 cm painted in 1612 by Jan Brueghel, was sold for $ 2M by Christie's on January 25, 2023, lot 123. This typical imaginary Weltlandschaft is in the same style of composition and color gradations as the example above while all the details differ. The road to the hill is superseding the river bank and the carts follow one another at a distance.
The nickname Fluwelen Brueghel often used to designate Jan the elder is consistent with the exquisite atmosphere and light of that series of paintings.
#AuctionUpdate Regarded as one of the most significant landscapes by the artist to come to market in recent decades, 'An extensive wooded landscape' by #JanBreugheltheElder realises £3,608,750 this evening. #Christies #OldMasters pic.twitter.com/RiVwHRx6QC
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 6, 2018
1613 Garden of Eden
2014 SOLD for £ 6.8M by Sotheby's
Jan Brueghel's long stay in Italy, from 1590 to 1596, is fruitful. The second son of Pieter the elder finds there the themes and techniques that would ensure his own success. From this early period, he uses the technique of oil on copper, which allows in small formats the greatest sharpness in the strokes.
One of his sponsors is the young cardinal Federico Borromeo. He is inspired by Filippo Neri, the apostle of the Counter-Reformation who advocates a joyful Christianity and sees the glory of God in the diversity of nature. Jan Brueghel's scenes of Paradise combine a wide variety of animals in an idyllic landscape with direct reference to Genesis.
Such a mystical perception of nature also inspires botanists and zoologists, who publish catalogs of species. Jan's invention around 1608 of painting bouquets with a wide variety of flowers was an epistolary suggestion from his friend the cardinal.
From 1612 to 1615, Jan takes up the theme of Paradise, with a more pleasant distribution of the elements. He saw the exotic animals of the Archduke's menagerie and compared his observations with the very innovative Rubens, with whom he was collaborating occasionally since 1598.
On July 9, 2014, Sotheby's sold at lot 19 for £ 6.8M from a lower estimate of £ 2M a Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, oil on copper 24 x 37 cm painted in 1613.
The left part is animated in the foreground by the royal animals, a pair of lions and a magnificent gray horse. Domestic and exotic quadrupeds and birds are distributed throughout the rest of the image. The Fall of Man, which justifies the Biblical context, is the picking of the apple. Adam and Eve are two tiny figures in the distance, painted in great fineness at a strong point of the image between the head of the horse and the beak of an ostrich.
One of his sponsors is the young cardinal Federico Borromeo. He is inspired by Filippo Neri, the apostle of the Counter-Reformation who advocates a joyful Christianity and sees the glory of God in the diversity of nature. Jan Brueghel's scenes of Paradise combine a wide variety of animals in an idyllic landscape with direct reference to Genesis.
Such a mystical perception of nature also inspires botanists and zoologists, who publish catalogs of species. Jan's invention around 1608 of painting bouquets with a wide variety of flowers was an epistolary suggestion from his friend the cardinal.
From 1612 to 1615, Jan takes up the theme of Paradise, with a more pleasant distribution of the elements. He saw the exotic animals of the Archduke's menagerie and compared his observations with the very innovative Rubens, with whom he was collaborating occasionally since 1598.
On July 9, 2014, Sotheby's sold at lot 19 for £ 6.8M from a lower estimate of £ 2M a Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, oil on copper 24 x 37 cm painted in 1613.
The left part is animated in the foreground by the royal animals, a pair of lions and a magnificent gray horse. Domestic and exotic quadrupeds and birds are distributed throughout the rest of the image. The Fall of Man, which justifies the Biblical context, is the picking of the apple. Adam and Eve are two tiny figures in the distance, painted in great fineness at a strong point of the image between the head of the horse and the beak of an ostrich.
1616 Feast near the Village
2008 SOLD for £ 3.5M by Sotheby's
Jan Brueghel is one of the very best Flemish painters and his themes are of the greatest variety. He imagined very early in his career the scenery and characters in Paradise. He had the good idea to transpose this theme to the peasant life, freed in his art from the moralizing intentions of his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
His landscapes are probably imaginary. They have very balanced compositions built around the turning of a road or a river or even both. The technique of oil on copper enables pure and warm colors.
One of his scenes of a feast near the village certainly expresses a personal emotion of the artist. This 26 x 38 cm painting dated 1616 was sold for £ 3.5M by Sotheby's on July 9, 2008 and passed at Christie's on July 6, 2017, lot 42.
The landscape at the turn of a river is pleasant with a varied animation. Couples of peasants are dancing in the middle of the road between two rows of well-aligned spectators. A merchant sells his fish and two bourgeois are discussing. The catalog tells us that one of the bourgeois is a very rare self-portrait of the artist, confirming the importance that this happy theme had for him.
The distant animation is also intense. Nice boats are sailing on the river. In the upper left the village is populated by characters with horses and carriages. In the foreground two dogs are gently waiting.
His landscapes are probably imaginary. They have very balanced compositions built around the turning of a road or a river or even both. The technique of oil on copper enables pure and warm colors.
One of his scenes of a feast near the village certainly expresses a personal emotion of the artist. This 26 x 38 cm painting dated 1616 was sold for £ 3.5M by Sotheby's on July 9, 2008 and passed at Christie's on July 6, 2017, lot 42.
The landscape at the turn of a river is pleasant with a varied animation. Couples of peasants are dancing in the middle of the road between two rows of well-aligned spectators. A merchant sells his fish and two bourgeois are discussing. The catalog tells us that one of the bourgeois is a very rare self-portrait of the artist, confirming the importance that this happy theme had for him.
The distant animation is also intense. Nice boats are sailing on the river. In the upper left the village is populated by characters with horses and carriages. In the foreground two dogs are gently waiting.
De l’importance des détails dans les scènes de la vie rurale de #Brueghel l’Ancien https://t.co/70trEgFBbl pic.twitter.com/WeDZxkEjf8
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) June 29, 2017
1625 Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark by Jan the younger
2010 SOLD for $ 2.9M by Christie's
The eldest son of Jan Brueghel, another Jan, shares a workshop in Antwerp with van Dyck. The two young men escape the epidemic of cholera that kills Jan Brueghel the elder in January 1625 : they were then making the traditional trip in Italy.
When Jan the younger returns to Antwerp a few months later, he is the only one able to maintain the family business. His siblings have been decimated and his half-brother Ambrosius is still a child.
Jan the elder left an original corpus of a great variety. Jan the younger offers his customers the same themes in other variants, with a predilection for scenes with animals. He also continues the much usual practice in Antwerp to cooperate with other artists, especially with Rubens who was his godfather.
The Entry of the animals into Noah's Ark, oil on panel 60 x 90 cm made by Jan the younger with an illegible date which is probably 1625, was sold for $ 2.9M by Christie's on January 27, 2010, lot 27.
When Jan the younger returns to Antwerp a few months later, he is the only one able to maintain the family business. His siblings have been decimated and his half-brother Ambrosius is still a child.
Jan the elder left an original corpus of a great variety. Jan the younger offers his customers the same themes in other variants, with a predilection for scenes with animals. He also continues the much usual practice in Antwerp to cooperate with other artists, especially with Rubens who was his godfather.
The Entry of the animals into Noah's Ark, oil on panel 60 x 90 cm made by Jan the younger with an illegible date which is probably 1625, was sold for $ 2.9M by Christie's on January 27, 2010, lot 27.
1626 Pan and Syrinx by Rubens and Jan the younger
2015 SOLD for $ 3.1M by Sotheby's
From the time of the illuminators, Flemish artists were image makers who used to practice some collaboration between their workshops. Jan Brueghel the elder is firmly established in Antwerp and manages many cooperations including with Joos de Momper and Hendrick van Balen.
At the top of his fame, Rubens does not hesitate to practice this duet art. Fascinated by the human body, he perhaps has no more time to execute himself the picture of the landscape where his characters will appear.
Rubens and Brueghel realized together mythological, biblical and allegorical paintings. When Jan dies of cholera in 1625, his son Jan the younger aged 24 comes to operate his business and complete the orders. He changes the spelling of his name to Breughel, presumably to differentiate his signature from his father.
On April 22, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 3.1M an oil on panel 58 x 95 cm by Rubens and Breughel, lot 30. This work on the subject of Pan and Syrinx in a landscape is not signed but the process of its creation has been described.
The panel is monogrammed by the guild of panel-makers of Antwerp and by Michiel Vriendt, the carpenter who was a supplier to Rubens. The master painted at an unidentified date the truculent god who grabs the half naked nymph. The panel was then transferred to Brueghel with the commission to add the marshy landscape where Syrinx will soon be transformed into a reed to escape the satyr, according to Ovid.
Dating it to 1626 is plausible. The theme had been used in a closer scene by Rubens and the late Jan Brueghel. The register of the younger Breughel for that year includes a painting for which he states that the figures of Pan and Syrinx had been made by Rubens.
At the top of his fame, Rubens does not hesitate to practice this duet art. Fascinated by the human body, he perhaps has no more time to execute himself the picture of the landscape where his characters will appear.
Rubens and Brueghel realized together mythological, biblical and allegorical paintings. When Jan dies of cholera in 1625, his son Jan the younger aged 24 comes to operate his business and complete the orders. He changes the spelling of his name to Breughel, presumably to differentiate his signature from his father.
On April 22, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 3.1M an oil on panel 58 x 95 cm by Rubens and Breughel, lot 30. This work on the subject of Pan and Syrinx in a landscape is not signed but the process of its creation has been described.
The panel is monogrammed by the guild of panel-makers of Antwerp and by Michiel Vriendt, the carpenter who was a supplier to Rubens. The master painted at an unidentified date the truculent god who grabs the half naked nymph. The panel was then transferred to Brueghel with the commission to add the marshy landscape where Syrinx will soon be transformed into a reed to escape the satyr, according to Ovid.
Dating it to 1626 is plausible. The theme had been used in a closer scene by Rubens and the late Jan Brueghel. The register of the younger Breughel for that year includes a painting for which he states that the figures of Pan and Syrinx had been made by Rubens.
1625-1632 The Four Elements by Jan the younger and van Balen
2010 SOLD for $ 2.2M by Christie's
A set of Elements painted by Jan the younger in four oils on copper 33 x 48 cm passed at Bonhams on July 3, 2019, lot 58. Dr. Ertz concluded that it is an autograph work by Jan the younger without collaboration. The use of copper in a size rather large for that technique shows the desire of the young artist to provide high quality painting, certainly soon after he succeeded Jan the elder.
Collaborations also continue, especially with Hendrick van Balen for the figures. Another set of Elements with a much simpler iconography in four panels 58 x 95 cm was sold for $ 2.2M by Christie's on January 27, 2010, lot 10.
The cooperation between Jan the younger and Frans Francken the younger is probably subsequent to van Balen's death that happened in 1632.
Collaborations also continue, especially with Hendrick van Balen for the figures. Another set of Elements with a much simpler iconography in four panels 58 x 95 cm was sold for $ 2.2M by Christie's on January 27, 2010, lot 10.
The cooperation between Jan the younger and Frans Francken the younger is probably subsequent to van Balen's death that happened in 1632.
1633 The Five Senses by Jan the younger
2022 SOLD for $ 8.6M by Christie's
Allegorical series of paintings were in the fashion in Flanders with the Brueghel brothers. They include the twelve months, the four seasons, the four elements and the five senses. At that time in Antwerp a usual practice was a collaboration involving the top masters. The set of seasons painted in 1624 by Pieter the younger in four panels 42 x 57 cm was sold for £ 6.5M by Christie's on July 7, 2016.
Jan Brueghel the elder and Peter Paul Rubens executed together in 1617 and 1618 a series of the Five Senses which joined before 1636 the collections of the Alcazar. This set of five panels around 65 x 110 cm is currently kept at the Prado. In the same period a set of two painting displaying respectively two and three senses was made by Brueghel for presentation to the Archduke and Archduchess of Austria, joint sovereigns of the Netherlands.
Each sense is a female allegory surrounded by musical, scientific and military equipment along with flowers, game and fish. A putto is superseded by a wine-pouring satyr for the Taste.
Jan the elder died from cholera in January 1625 while his son Jan the younger was in Italy. When the younger returns to Antwerp a few months later, he is the only one able to maintain the family business. His siblings have been decimated and his half-brother Ambrosius is still a child. He sold the finished works of his father and completed some unfinished paintings.
The elder left an original corpus of a great variety. The younger continues in the same themes. He changes the spelling of his name to Breughel for differentiation.
An unsigned and undated set of five panels around 70 x 110 cm of the Senses was sold by Christie's for $ 3.9M on October 3, 2001, lot 98, and for $ 8.6M on November 9, 2022, lot 36. It had belonged to the Holy Roman emperors during the 18th century.
They are nearly identical to the original set of five and in the same size. A female semi-nude is now clothed, possibly for a cleric patron. Some slight differences in style led the experts to attribute them to Jan the younger when he went to manage the business of his late father. The personification and putti may be by another artist.
The set of originals was possibly copied in 1633 when moved via Antwerp to Spain for presentation by the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand to his brother King Felipe IV.
Jan Brueghel the elder and Peter Paul Rubens executed together in 1617 and 1618 a series of the Five Senses which joined before 1636 the collections of the Alcazar. This set of five panels around 65 x 110 cm is currently kept at the Prado. In the same period a set of two painting displaying respectively two and three senses was made by Brueghel for presentation to the Archduke and Archduchess of Austria, joint sovereigns of the Netherlands.
Each sense is a female allegory surrounded by musical, scientific and military equipment along with flowers, game and fish. A putto is superseded by a wine-pouring satyr for the Taste.
Jan the elder died from cholera in January 1625 while his son Jan the younger was in Italy. When the younger returns to Antwerp a few months later, he is the only one able to maintain the family business. His siblings have been decimated and his half-brother Ambrosius is still a child. He sold the finished works of his father and completed some unfinished paintings.
The elder left an original corpus of a great variety. The younger continues in the same themes. He changes the spelling of his name to Breughel for differentiation.
An unsigned and undated set of five panels around 70 x 110 cm of the Senses was sold by Christie's for $ 3.9M on October 3, 2001, lot 98, and for $ 8.6M on November 9, 2022, lot 36. It had belonged to the Holy Roman emperors during the 18th century.
They are nearly identical to the original set of five and in the same size. A female semi-nude is now clothed, possibly for a cleric patron. Some slight differences in style led the experts to attribute them to Jan the younger when he went to manage the business of his late father. The personification and putti may be by another artist.
The set of originals was possibly copied in 1633 when moved via Antwerp to Spain for presentation by the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand to his brother King Felipe IV.
#AuctionRecord From the Paul G. Allen Collection, Jan Breughel the Younger’s ‘The Five Senses: Sight, Touch, Hearing, Taste and Smell’ set an auction record for the artist with a price realized of $8.634 million pic.twitter.com/HU583PL44J
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) November 10, 2022
