Agapes On The Grass – 17th Century Antwerp School

Oil on panel.
Our composition depicts a group of young people enjoying a feast. Like peasants, these city dwellers indulge in the joys of an open-air meal. This is an ordinary thing for the rural people, but for the elite, these are recreational moments appreciated for their bucolic character, often pretexts for flirting. These "luncheons on the grass," fashionable in Italy since the Renaissance and popularized throughout Europe in the 17th century, are an opportunity for the wealthiest to slip into the shoes of simple shepherds. Thus, they carry crooks and are surrounded by grazing animals. But only the decor refers to the simplicity of the world of the fields because the fountain reminds us that we are in a park, that of a castle? Finally, the presence of musicians, the feathered hats, the delicacy of the dishes, and the preciousness of the tableware leave no doubt as to the rank occupied by our protagonists.
In the teeming pool of painters that was Antwerp in the 17th century, the artists likely to have executed our painting are legion. Therefore, our research is oriented towards painters specialized in cabinet paintings and genre scenes. And the obvious influences of Pieter Paul Rubens on the one hand, and of the Venetian colorists on the other (Rubens himself drew from their palette), lead us towards artists who frequented the workshop of the Antwerp genius and who would have traveled to Italy. After examining the leads of Pieter van Lint (1609 – 1690) or Willem van Herp (1614 – 1677), the weakness of the evidence found did not allow for conclusive conclusions. Thus, it is possible that, as was customary among the Flemish, we are in the presence of a work executed by several artists, making its attribution complex. A larger painting titled "Pastoral Landscape with Picnicking Shepherds" whose composition is close to ours (see photos) and sold by the Sanct Lucas gallery in Vienna, is said to have been created by five painters: Abraham Govaerts, Frans II Francken, Ambrosius II Francken, Hans Jordaens III and Alexander Keirincx.

Our feast on the grass is highlighted by a sober frame with an inverted profile in blackened wood.
Dimensions: 51.6 x 73.3 cm - 67 x 89 cm with the frame
Sold with invoice and certificate of expertise.

Bibliography:
- GIBSON Walter S., Mirror of the Earth: the World Landscape in Sixteenth-Century Flemish Painting, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1989.
- VLIEGHE Hans, Flemish Art and Architecture: 1585 – 1700, Yale University Press, 1998.
- BRIELS Jan, Flemish Painters in Holland, Albin Michel, 1987. - BALIS A., DIAZ PADRON M., VAN DE VELDE C., VLIEGHE H., Flemish Painting in the Prado, 1989.
- VLIEGHE Hans, Flemish Painting in America, Albin Michel, 1992.
- The Century of Rubens, exhibition catalogue, Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 1965.