Workshop Of Jan Brueghel The Younger And Workshop Of Hendrick Van Balen, Flora And Putti

Workshop of Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601 – 1678) and

Workshop of Hendrick van Balen (1575 – 1632)

Flora and putti

Oil on copper, 36 x 30 cm

With frame, cm 42.5 x 37.5

An in-depth study of this painting allows us to identify as architects the workshops of two Flemish artists, that of Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601 – 1678) and that of Hendrick van Balen (1575 – 1632).

Jan Brueghel the Younger is particularly credited with creating the landscape, with its typical chromatic tones and that of the flowers and fruits, characteristic of the young man's first pictorial attempts. Belonging to the most famous dynasty of Flemish painters, Jan was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder, grandson of Pieter Brueghel the Elder and father of Abraham Brueghel. Trained by his father, Jan went to Milan at a young age to meet Federico Borromeo, former patron of the Old Man. After a trip to Italy that took him to Rome, Naples and Palermo, in the company of his friend Anthony van Dick, Jan returned to Antwerp in 1625, following the sudden death of his father and to inherit the reins of the workshop. Although he had taken over his father's studio, in fact, Brueghel was still working on his painting style, characterised by a punctual and meticulous recovery of every detail, a quality clearly visible above all in the creation of the various types of flowers; furthermore, throughout his life he continued to collaborate with some noteworthy painters, among whom we remember Hendrick van Balen, credited with depicting the winged putto in the work in question, Peter Paul Rubens and Pieter van Avont, to name a few. The images of the collaboration with van Balen give the viewer the impression that these paintings were "all in one piece", created by the hand of a single artist. The collaboration of several painters on a painting was a phenomenon typically found in 17th-century Flemish painting. Van Balen was instrumental in the renewal of Flemish painting in the 17th century, acting as a bridge between the generations of his tutor Marten de Vos and the prodigious pupil, Anthony van Dyck. Van Balen served as dean of the Romanists of Antwerp, a brotherhood of artists who had studied in Rome; the winged putto depicted here also exudes this classical training among the ancient Renaissance statues and frescoes of the Eternal City, while maintaining that brilliant Nordic sense of light, flesh, and structure. In the oil on copper under examination, Flora, an Italic deity of spring portrayed naked here, is depicted sitting on the edge of a fountain, covered only by a golden drape and a garland of flowers that encircles her long brown hair. The scene is completed by three winged cherubs, also depicted naked and gathering flowers in honor of the goddess.