(Brussels 1568–1625) and
Hendrik van Balen
(Antwerp 1575–1632)
Diana and Callisto,
oil on copper, 9.3 x 16.4 cm, framed

Klaus Ertz confirmed the present painting as a joint autograph work by Jan Brueghel I (landscape, flowers and animals) and Hendrik van Balen (figures). A written certificate (2019) is available.

Ertz writes: ‘The condition of this small copper panel can be described as excellent. The glazes, typically applied in layers, have survived in a perfect state. […] What would the figures be without the dark forest surrounding them, which is part of the narrative, with its creek, the reed, and the flowers, or the small, typically spotted dog in the lower right corner, which is almost like Brueghel’s signature? All of these elements betray Jan Brueghel the Elder’s inimitable perfection as a painter and immense truth to detail. Van Balen adapted his tiny figures to the miniature format of the copper plate. I do not know any smaller human figures by his hand than these to date – different from Jan Brueghel, of whom examples of both landscapes and flower pieces in miniature format are known.’

To corroborate the attribution of the present painting to Jan Brueghel I and Hendrik van Balen, Klaus Ertz refers to the following works securely attributed to both artists:

Diana and Actaeon, Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Kassel, dated 1608;

Diana and Actaeon, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, shortly after 1608;

Diana and Actaeon, with Gallery David H. Koetser, Zurich (2007), circa 1610;

Diana and Callisto, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin/Texas, 1605/8;

Diana and Callisto, Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, circa 1610

Ertz continues: ‘The overall chromatic impression, the delicate brushwork, and the technical mastery with which the artist meticulously traces every single shape, rendering it down to the smallest detail, speak in favour of Jan Brueghel the Elder’s authorship. He has created a small masterpiece of supreme quality in the tightest of spaces. At the beginning of the century, van Balen drew his inspirations from Hans Rottenhammer’s slender figures and types, whereas in his later period his figures became more voluminous and softer, being reminiscent rather of those by his second important role model, Peter Paul Rubens.’