(Antwerp 1601–1678)
A still life of tulips, roses, and irises in a glass vase, with shells and insects,
oil on copper, 37.2 x 27.1 cm, framed

We are grateful to Klaus Ertz for confirming the authenticity of the present painting. A certificate, dated 16 February 2016, is available.

Klaus Ertz writes: ‘The colours give a bright and brilliant impression. The blossoms and leaves are rendered in great detail, which is typical of the period shortly after the artist had taken over the studio of his father in 1625. […]A cone-shaped glass vase tapered towards the bottom and decorated with knobs appears against a dark, subtly nuanced backdrop in the centre of a reddish brown tabletop cropped by the picture’s margins on both sides and extending across the entire width of the lower margin. Due to the white highlights, the knobs in the lower part of the vase resemble small blossoms themselves. Above these larger knobs, the vase is surrounded by a band consisting of countless tiny glass knobs.

The vase holds a colourful bouquet of flowers, with the individual blossoms augmented by their powerful brilliance. In the lower section, the bouquet contains a large open white rose and a yellow buttercup, followed above by a red carnation, a yellow narcissus, a large white and red streaked tulip, as well as a pink and a red carnation. The arrangement continues above on the left with a blue iris, a red tulip, a blue and white iris, and a red and yellow streaked tulip. The space between these more conspicuous flowers, which are emphasised in terms of both colour and size, is filled with a multitude of smaller blossoms in white, blue, yellow, and red that partly stand out from the bouquet in all directions, as do the overlapping leaves and stems, all of which lend this fantastic bouquet a certain degree of three-dimensionality. When taking a closer look, the beholder will recognise a small snail on the blossoms on the left, as well as a butterfly on the red carnation on the right and a dragonfly towards the upper right. Next to the vase, arranged on the table from left to right, appear a small twig with a white blossom, an extremely delicately painted shell, a caterpillar, a fly, a blue violet, and a red beetle. Yet in spite of its vivid blaze of colours, this flower painting is a vanitas allegory, for each of these fascinating blossoms is bound to wither – a fact also alluded to by the insects in the bouquet and on the table […]. In the present composition, Jan Brueghel the Younger, whose flower paintings in particular were overshadowed by those of his father, demonstrates that he was able to approximate his father’s superior quality level like no other painter of his time. Mention should therefore be made of a flower painting by the father’s hand that may have been the source of inspiration for the present painting, namely Flowers in a Glass Vase (private collection, c. 1610; see Ertz/Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Lingen, 2008–2010, vol. III, cat. 421).

After his father’s death, Jan the Younger took over the latter’s studio and continued to work in the unmistakable style of his father until the mid-1630s in both his flower compositions and landscapes. Only then did he arrive at his own painting style, which differed from that of his father in a more subdued palette and a more cursory treatment of detail. The son’s brushwork is looser and more generous and appears to be more vigorous. Yet this development towards autonomy is not yet visible in the present flower composition. The contrary is true: the brilliant colours and the finely and meticulously painted flowers and insects still clearly reveal the father’s influence. With a delicate brush, the artist has traced the particularity of each individual blossom. The dark, diffuse surface of the background is in contrast to finely nuanced fabric of the blossoms. Similar to his father, the son gave shape to the individual blossoms with a myriad of tiny brushstrokes. Each of the blossoms has been given its own volume and sufficient space so that they will not smother one another, but equally come into their own as if they were small portraits. In terms of the composition, Jan the Younger still relied on his father’s models here, although he did not copy them, but created his own balanced composition of several larger flowers and a multitude of tiny blossoms, stems, and leaves, all of which are combined to form a colourful harmony.

In order to corroborate the attribution of this unsigned painting to Jan Brueghel the Younger, it is necessary to compare it to other authentic works stylistically related to it in terms of composition, pictorial approach, and date. The following paintings are particularly relevant in this context:

(1) Still Life of Flowers in a Glass and a Frog (Prado, Madrid, c. 1620);
(2) Flowers in a Glass Vase (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, c. 1620)
(3) Flowers in a Glass Vase (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, late 1620s)

The present painting’s brushwork, which may be somewhat less detailed than that of Jan Brueghel the Elder, but nevertheless traces the tiniest structures of each blossom while giving preference to the volume of the floral arrangement and simultaneously also taking into account the two-dimensional surface in the form of vibrant colour accents placed side by side, suggests that the present composition was not executed long after the father’s oeuvre. Although the period of Mannerist marvels for the cabinets of curiosities of secular princes and princes of the church had elapsed by around 1620, the demand for such ‘Mannerist’ compositions as the present example continued. Yet the patrons have changed: church and state dignitaries have given way to patricians compiling their own art collections. And flower paintings were as popular then as they are today.’

Ertz dates the present painting to the period immediately after 1626.

1 White rose (Rosa alba) // 2 Yellow Persian buttercup (Ranunculus asiaticus) // 3 Persian Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) // 4 Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) // 5 Forget-me-not (Myosotis spec.) // 6 Chimney bellflower (Campanula pyramidali) // 7 Viola (Viola) // 8 Red carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) // 9 Wood anemone (Anemone nemerosa) // 10 Marigold (Calendula officinalis) // 11 Yellow wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) // 12 Mexican marigold (Tagetes erecta) // 13 Tulip, cultivated form (Tulipa spec., Zuchtform) // 14 Clove pink (Dianthus caryophyllus) // 15 Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) // 16 Didier’s tulip (Tulipa gesneriana cf. X clusiana) // 17 Iris (Iris pallida) // 18 Tulip Duc-van-Tol (Tulipa suaveolens Duc van Tol) // 19 Spreading bellflower (Campanula patula) // 20 Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)<

A Dog whelk (Muricidae) // B Caterpillar (Lepidoptera) // C Housefly (Musca domestica) // D Checkered beetle (Trichodes apiarius) // E Ant-like stone beetle (Clytra laeviuscula) // F Flea beetle (Psylliodes spec.) // G Ladybeetle (Coccinellidae) // H Grove snail (Cepaea hortensis) // I Grasshopper (Acrididae) // J Caterpillar (Lepidoptera) // K Green lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea) // L Green demoiselle (Zygoptera) // M Common blue (Polyommatus icarus)


Additional image:
Caption of the depicted flowers and animals