Still Life with a Crown of Flowers, Tazza, Jewelry Box, Watch, and Vase of Flowers (Primary Title)
Jan Brueghel the Younger, Flemish (active in England), 1561 - 1635 (Artist)
Jan Brueghel, the Elder, Flemish, 1568 - 1625 (Artist)
From an early age, Jan Brueghel the Younger assisted
his father with commissions in his Antwerp workshop.
This opulent still life was one of the final collaborations
between father and son, completed shortly before the
younger Brueghel departed for Italy in the early 1620s.
Certain motifs in the painting show evidence of their
different hands at work. The modeling of the glass vase
is somewhat less refined than that of the ornate gilt
tazza—which was commonly used for wine or delicacies
such as candied fruit—and the flowers that crown it.
Flowers were Brueghel the Elder’s specialty, and the
kind of exquisitely delicate brushwork employed here
to render the wreath earned him the nickname “the
velvet Brueghel.” Other paintings from the Brueghel
workshop included flowers from different seasons,
jewelry, and other luxurious items, and their combination was intended to evoke the question of whether
the beauty of God’s creation surpassed the finest
works made by human artifice.
The Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III Collection
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