Jan Brueghel II Lot n° 44

(Antwerp 1601–1678) Flowers on a table, with a gilded tazza, a wreath and a vase, oil on panel, on the back of the panel the mark of the hands of the City of Antwerp and the mark of the panel maker, 47 x 68 cm, framed We are grateful to Klaus Ertz for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Jan Brueghel II. A written certificate (February 2020) is available. Klaus Ertz writes: ‘Jan Brueghel the Younger’s typical colours in the blossoms – in the vase, the floral wreath, and the tazza – have been applied in an impasto style and in spite of the dark varnish give a brilliant impression. As is characteristic of this early period, the manner in which the flowers are painted is entirely in line with the tradition established by his father, Jan Brueghel the Elder, who had had his son collaborate in several of his flower still lives before the latter’s journey to Italy. The younger Jan Brueghel, having harked back to the only known tazza painted by his father for his own flower pieces, has created a completely independent and novel composition here by combining the tazza with a vase of flowers and a floral wreath, thus contributing to the development of the flower still life subject. When it comes to the detailed depiction of the blossoms, he turns out the true keeper of the paternal legacy. The wreath, placed at the centre, is flanked by the vase of flowers on the right and the tazza on the left. Through several floral tendrils extending from the tazza towards the left and right in the direction of the wreath in the middle, an almost unnoticeable connection is created of these three components. They thus additionally counterbalance the “emptiness” above the wreath as it lies there.’ Although possibly cut on the left side, the composition reveals all the traits of this master. Ertz dates this painting into the late 1620s.