ART 4
2-DAY 13 September |
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Born on 13 September 1838: Anton
Mauve, Dutch painter in oil and watercolor, and etcher,
of landscapes
with animals and peasants; a member of the Hague School. He died on 05 February
1888. — {Mauve paintings are not mauve paintings: they tend more to
green}. — He was born in Zaandam, the son of a Mennonite preacher. Anton Mauve spent his youth in Haarlem, where he studied under the animal painters P.F. van Os and Wouterus Verschuur, and began his career as a painter of horses. Lived on and off at Oosterbeek 1858-1874, becoming very friendly from about 1862 with Willem Mans. Settled in 1874 in The Hague, where he began to paint sheep, and scenes of horses and men hauling fishing boats on the beach. Gave painting lessons to van Gogh, his wife's cousin, for three weeks in 1881-1882. Mauve spent much time in Laren from 1882 and settled there 1885. His late pictures include scenes of peasants at their work, influenced by Millet, and some landscapes without animals or humans. He died at Arnhem. — Mauve came from a large family of clergymen in the province of North Holland. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed to the animal painter Pieter Frederik van Os [1808–1892]: animals (especially sheep, but also cows and horses) became Mauve’s preferred theme. He then was trained for a few months by Wouterus Verschuur, who gave him his love of horses, in the style, at least, of Paulus Potter and Philips Wouwerman. Initially Mauve painted horses above all else, not the shining animals Verschuur painted, but worn-out plodding beasts. In 1858 Mauve joined his much older friend Paul Gabriël on a trip to Oosterbeek, the Dutch Barbizon, where he met Gerard Bilders and Willem Maris, two artists who were to have an enormous influence on him. The premature death of Bilders, a painter with whom he shared emotionalism and fickleness of mood, came as a great shock to Mauve. Apart from Bilders, Willem Maris, who was six years his junior, was a lifelong friend. There are a number of similarities between their work as well as essential differences: Mauve tended to add human figures to his animal pieces, whereas the youngest of the Maris brothers did not; Mauve’s cows, horses and sheep seem more peaceful than Maris’s, at times almost listless. For a long time Mauve was impressed by Maris’s virtuosity as a painter, although he eventually adopted a different style. There is a clear relationship between man and animal or between the animals themselves in Mauve’s paintings, a noticeable difference from Maris’s pictures. — The students of Mauve included Vincent van Gogh [1853-1886], Jan Pieter Veth, Philip Zilcken. LINKS Morning Ride on the Beach (1876) Riders in the Snow of the Woods at The Hague (1879) In the Pasture (59x74cm; 2/5 size, 192kb _ ZOOM to 4/5 size, 697kb) — Gathering Seaweed (110kb) |
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Died on 13 September 1975: Shiko
Munakata, Japanese printmaker born on 05 September 1903. — Munakata is one of the most significant Japanese artists of the twentieth century. His art work consists of paintings, prints, ceramics and calligraphy. He was born the son of a blacksmith in Aomori Prefecture, located in the North of Japan's main island. He first began to paint in oil as a self-taught artist. Later in 1924 he went to Tokyo to study art. At the age of 23 Munakata Shiko saw a woodblock print by Sumio Kawakami [1895-1972] and decided to try woodblocks himself. Under the guidance of Unichi Hiratuka he learned the art of making moku-hanga — woodblock prints. Three years later he exhibited 4 woodblocks at the Shunyokai exhibition. From now on Munakata Shiko was a hanga artist — a print artist. He continued to exhibit and by and by his reputation grew. After World War II had ended, the artist became famous outside Japan. Munakata preferred to call his prints banga, which could be translated “picture made from a wooden panel”. Munakata was a practicing Buddhist. Many of his prints and paintings show religious subjects. Other subjects are taken from Japanese legends or from nature. Munakata's prints are larger than the traditional Japanese oban (25x38cm) size. With his larger-sized prints he followed Western contemporary artist's and the buying habits of Western clients. Japanese homes are usually small and have little wall space to hang art work and therefore Japanese art buyers tend to buy smaller sizes. A Munakata print is usually in black and white. The techniques he used are woodblocks, woodcuts, and lithographs. Shiko Munakata worked spontaneously, fast, and was extremely prolific. — Born in Aomori City, Shiko was the third son of a blacksmith, Kokichi, and his wife Sada. Shiko entered Nagashima Elementary School in April of 1910. By about the third grade he began to develop an interest in kite art and drew kite pictures for his classmates. On one occasion in sixth grade while running to see an airplane make a crash landing in a rice field, he happened to fall at the edge of a brook. Right in front of him was a white blossom of "Omodaka" and he was struck by its beauty. After finishing elementary school Shiko joined his elder brother at their father's blacksmith business. At the age of 17 he was employed by the city court and took advantage of his new schedule to visit Gappo Park in the early morning and practise sketching. It was about this time, also, that he was deeply impressed by a reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers, given to him by his teacher, Tadaaki Ono. In 1924, at the age of 21, Shiko went to Tokyo. While eking out a living by repairing shoes and selling "natto", he continued to study art. In October 1928, after five years in Tokyo, he had his first picture, an oil painting, Zatsuen. Shiko's interest in woodblock print art began even before his oil painting Zatsuen was accepted for an exhibition. Moved by Sumio Kawakami's Hatsunatsu no kaze,Shiko began his studies of the medium by visiting Un'ichi Hiratuka, who had been introduced to him by Kihachiro Shimozawa, a friend from Shiko's hometown. In 1929, four of Shiko's woodblock works were accepted for the Shunyokai Exhibition and in the following year all four pieces he submitted were accepted for the Kokugakai Exhibition. This convinced Shiko to focus on woodblock print art. In April 1936, his woodblock series Yamato-shi Uruwashi was displayed in the Kokugakai Exhibition and subsequently purchased by the Japan Folk Art Museum, which earned Shiko the acknowedgement of Muneyoshi Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai, and Shoji Hamada. In April 1952, Shiko's work was awarded a special prize for excellence at the 2nd International Woodblock Print Exhibition held in Lugano, Switzerland. Entering works such as Shaka Judai Deshi, Shiko took the top prize in July 1955 in San Paulo Biennial. The following June he received the International Woodblock Print Award at the Venice Biennial for works like Ryuryoku Kakosho,thus firmly establishing himself as a world class artist. Munakata died in Tokyo. In addition to his woodblock prints, Shiko left many masterpieces of painting, calligraphy, poetry, and the like. He also authored a number of books, such as Munakata Shiko Hanga Taisaku — Bangokudo'hand — Wadaba Gohho ni naru. Shikô Munakata was once described by the novelist Jun'ichirô Tanizaki as "an impertinent artist who gouges the universe." Today Munakata is recognized internationally as a near-legendary artist of astounding energy and a profound sensitivity. Munakata's work was influenced by the Buddhist folk tradition of Japan, but his vision was also distilled through his own personal expression of Zen Buddhism and the spirit of 'Shintô'. Mixed with elements of 'mingei' (folk craft). Munakata was moved by what he called the "power of the board"; he even used a different first character when calling his prints "hanga," his version translating into something more like "board picture" than the standard term, which is closer to "print picture." He believed that the artist must succumb to the power of the board. Munakata worked at great speed as if the form had to be released from within the board before it dissipated, as though he were but a temporary medium through which the design, not really his own, could be revealed. As a result his prints have great spontaneity and a unique spiritual energy. His first prints were published in 1928 and by 1935 he had become more widely recognized for his unusual talent and personality. Munakata was the first Japanese print artist to win an international honor when he was awarded the "Prize of Excellence" at the Second International Print Exhibition in Lugano, Switzerland in 1952. The Japanese government awarded him its highest honor in the arts, the Order of Culture, in November 1970. — Barahi no Saku (woodprint)>>> — Snow in the Mountains (640x578pix, 210kb) — Woman with Hawk (640x491pix, 133kb) — Fox and Wolf (640x538pix, 143kb) — Monjû Bosatsu (640x259pix, 74kb) |
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Born on 13 September 1928: Robert Clark
Indiana, US pop artist. Born Robert Clark, at New Castle, Indiana. Between 1945 and 1948 he studied at art schools in Indianapolis and Utica, and from 1949 to 1953 at the Chicago Art Institute School and the Skowhgan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine. In 1953 and 1954 he studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and London University, after which he settled in New York. He took up contact with the painters Kelly, Smith and Youngerman. His early works were inspired by traffic signs, automatic amusement machines, commercial stencils and old tradenames. In the early sixties he did sculpture assemblages and developed his style of vivid color surfaces, involving letters, words and numbers. In 1966 he had exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Eindhoven (Van Abbemuseum), Krefeld (Museum Haus Lange) and Stuttgart (Württembergische Kunstverein). He was represented at the documenta "4" exhibition, Kassel, in 1968. He became known for silkscreen prints, posters and sculptures which took the word LOVE as their theme. The brash directness of these works stemmed from their symmetrical arrangements of color and form. LINKS Sex anyone? (1964, 39x28cm) _ those two words, red lips, yellow background. Americans in Paris (big 4, words) Untitled (Eternal Hexagon) (1964, 45x41cm) untitled, plate on pp. 140-41 in the book 1¢ Life (1964, 41x30cm, curved arrows) |
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Died on 13 September 1506: Andrea
Mantegna, Italian painter born in 1431. Mantegna was one of the foremost north Italian painters of the 15th century. A master of perspective and foreshortening, he made important contributions to the compositional techniques of Renaissance painting. Born probably at Isola di Carturo, between Vicenza and Padua, Mantegna became the apprentice and adopted son of the painter Francesco Squarcione of Padua. He developed a passionate interest in classical antiquity. The influence of both ancient Roman sculpture and the contemporary sculptor Donatello are clearly evident in Mantegna's rendering of the human figure. His human forms were distinguished for their solidity, expressiveness, and anatomical correctness. Mantegna's principal works in Padua were religious. His first great success was a series of frescoes on the lives of St. James and St. Christopher in the Ovetari Chapel of the Church of the Eremitani (1456; badly damaged in World War II). In 1459 Mantegna went to Mantua to become court painter to the ruling Gonzaga family and accordingly turned from religious to secular and allegorical subjects. His masterpiece was a series of frescoes (1465-1474) for the Camera degli Sposi of the Palazzo Ducale. In these works, he carried the art of illusionistic perspective to new limits. His figures depicting the court were not simply applied to the wall like flat portraits but appeared to be taking part in realistic scenes, as if the walls had disappeared. The illusion is carried over onto the ceiling, which appears to be open to the sky, with servants, a peacock, and cherubs leaning over a railing. This was the prototype of illusionistic ceiling painting and was to become an important element of baroque and rococo art. Mantegna's later works varied in quality. His largest undertaking, a fresco series on the Triumphs of Caesar (1489, Hampton Court Palace, England), displays a rather dry classicism, but Parnassus (1497), an allegorical painting commissioned by Isabelle d'Este, is his freshest, most animated work. His work never ceased to be innovative. In Madonna of Victory (1495), he introduced a new compositional arrangement, based on diagonals, which was later to be exploited by Correggio, while his Dead Christ was a tour de force of foreshortening that pointed ahead to the style of 16th-century Mannerism. One of the key artistic figures of the second half of the 15th century, Mantegna was the dominant influence on north Italian painting for 50 years. It was also through him that German artists, notably Albrecht Dürer, were made aware of the artistic discoveries of the Italian Renaissance. He died in Mantua. — In April 1985, The Adoration by the Magi sold for £8'100'000, world auction record for the artist. LINKS — Agony in the Garden (1459, 63x80cm) _ detail — Crucifixion (1459, 67x93cm) — Presentation at the Temple (1460, 67x86cm) _ detail — The Court of Mantua (1474) — Altarpiece (1460, 480x450 cm) — Madonna and Child with Cherubs — Saint George (1460, 66x32cm) — The Protonary Carlo de' Medici aka Portrait of a Cardinal (1466, 54x42cm) — Christ the Redeemer — The Adoration by the Shepherds (1453, 40x56cm; 780x1085pix, 187kb) — _ A prodigy, Andrea Mantegna established his reputation when he was barely 20 years old. This painting is an early work, but already his highly individual style is evident. The hard, precise drawing, the astonishing clarity of even the smallest details in the distant landscape, and the refined, pure color are typical of his work, as are the intensely serious expressions of the figures. The Adoration seems to have been painted for Borso d' Este, ruler of Ferrara, and the coarse realism of the shepherds probably reflects Flemish paintings collected by the Este. — Agony in the Garden (1459 , 63x80cm, 710x927pix, 156kb) _ In 1453 or 1454 Mantegna married Nicolosia Bellini and in so doing allies himself professionally with her brother, Giovanni, to whom he imparts Donatellian ideas. The two London panels depicting the Agony in the Garden by Mantegna and Bellini respectively define the artistic interdependence of the two brothers-in-law: the technical innovations and organization of the Paduan painter and the pre-eminence of the Venetian in the field of light and color. _ detail of Judas who leads the soldiers to Jesus (950x696pix, 181kb) — San Luca Altarpiece (1453, 177x230cm; 827x1029pix, 170kb) _ The work (12 panels) was commissioned in 1453, when the artist was twenty-two years old, for the chapel of S. Luca in the church of S. Giustina, Padua. The figures represented, reading from upper left, are: Saint Daniel of Padua, Saint Jerome, the Virgin, Christ, Saint John, Saint Augustine, Saint Sebastian, Saint Scolastica, Saint Prosdocimus, Saint Benedict and Saint Justina. The original wooden frame in which Mantegna's signature had been incised was destroyed by lightning in the seventeenth century. Its loss radically alters the composition, as can be seen by the considerable difference in scale between the two registers. It is thus worth attempting a reconstruction, in order to grasp the meaning of the whole work. Probably commissioned by the donors to execute a Gothic-type altarpiece, Mantegna must have succeeded in altering the scheme substantially by inserting a thick molding between the two orders. This division set the two ranges much farther apart than they are today. Another device used by the artist to avoid the effect of caged images is the perspective in the center of the composition whereby the upper panels were made smaller to suggest distance while the lower panels were made larger to imply that they are closer to the spectator. But the most sensational means is the stepped pavement, which must have been the ground plane of the suggested architectural construction. The whole must have made a sort of two-storied loggia, housing figures engaged in a Sacra Conversazione. Even without its original framework, the separate figures remain highly impressive. A lyric quality, unequalled in Mantegna's other work, is generated by the illusionistic effect of the figures, achieved by means of their "wet drapery," which Mantegna must have rediscovered by studying classic Roman sculpture. _ detail: Saint Justina (1236x450pix, 85kb) — Death of the Virgin (1461 Panel, 54x42cm; 837x649pix, 136kb) — Profile of a Man (1460; 1010x787, 174kb) — Presentation at the Temple (1460, 67x86cm) Staatliche Museen, Berlin 904*730pix, 149kb) _ detail (840x563pix, 77kb) — Saint George (1460, 66 x32cm) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice 525*1100pix, 180kb) — Altarpiece 1457-60 Panel, 480x450cm) San Zeno, Verona 947*637pix, 164kb) — Crucifixion 1457-59 Wood, 67x93cm) ; 908*740pix, 179kb) — Saint Sebastian with arrows in head and neck (1458, 68x30cm; 1200x541pix, 169kb) _ The vertical inscription at the right side of the saint is the signature of Mantegna in Greek. — Saint Sebastian without arrows in head or neck (1459, 255x140 cm; 1061x568pix, 167kb) — The painting is part of the High Altar of San Zeno in Verona. Painted in dull colors, with the exception of the touches of red and yellow of the archers, shows the love of the painter for antique ruins and the precision of his careful study of the human body. — The Madonna of the Cherubim (1485, 88x70cm; 1006x815pix, 135kb) — Judith and Holofernes (1495; 800x466pix, 94kb) — Parnassus 1497, 160x 192cm) ; 857*685pix, 144kb) — Ceiling Oculus (1474, round 270cm diameter; 919x757pix, 177kb) — The Court of Mantua (detail 1) (1474; 749x933pix, 199kb) _ (detail 2) (727x1050pix, 176kb) — Suite of Cardinal Francesco (detail) (1474; 981x679pix, 106 kb) |
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Born on 13 September 1861: Frederick
Judd Waugh, US painter specialized in Maritime
Scenes, who died in 1940. He studied under Thomas
Anshutz and Thomas
Eakins. Waugh was born in Bordentown, New Jersey. Between 1880 and 1881 he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy, where he met Eakins. He then went to Paris to attend the Académie Julian where he was a student of Bouguereau and Lefebvre. In 1885 he settled in Philadelphia. In 1894 he moved to England and lived in Saint Ives, Cornwall. He contributed a number of illustrations to London periodicals and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1894 and 1895. In 1892 he had shown paintings at the Salon in Paris. In 1907 he returned to the United States. — Photo of Waugh LINKS The Knight of the Holy Grail (1912, 238x319cm) — The Swiss Alps (1887, 76x127cm) Late Afternoon (63x76cm) Breakers at Floodtide (1909, 89x102cm) _ Frederick Judd Waugh's prodigious output is defined by his achievements as a marine painter. Breakers at Floodtide is an accomplished, ambitious seascape, painted shortly after his return from Europe. The expressive and realistic effects were the result of Waugh's exhaustive study of light, shadow, and motion of waves breaking on rocky shores. As he wrote, "one should not conflict actualities in nature with artistic representation.... It is impossible to paint the sea in literal movement or to carry to the nostrils the tang of the salt sea brine, yet all these are somehow felt in a work of art. Being able to present such feeling is where the artist should excel." By adhering to this philosophy, Waugh attained great stature as a marine painter, garnering a strong popular and commercial following during his lifetime. Born in Bordentown, New Jersey, Waugh's father was Samuel Bell Waugh, the noted portrait painter. From 1880 to 1883, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anshutz, and in 1883, enrolled in the Acad6mie Julian, Paris. However, it was a visit in 1893 to the Island of Sark, off the French coast, that proved to be a decisive turn. Waugh remained for two years, studying the rocky shoreline, making notes, sketches, and studies. He traveled to St. Ives, Cornwall, in 1895, where he continued intensive analysis of the seascape subject. Waugh left England for the United States in 1907, in an effort to establish his reputation as a marine painter on his native continent. Breakers at Floodtide shows an assured virtuosity in paint application, rendering, and composition. Works of this period are characterized by vigorous brushwork and a rich surface texture created by the building up of layers of impasto. Waugh outlined his outlook and working methods in several essays and manuscripts, stating that "the sea is a pliable element and the wind and rocks and sands heave it up and twist it and turn it, pretty much the same way every time, until the observer learns to know the repeated forms he sees, and becomes at last so familiar with them that they can be painted from memory ... I spend part of each summer studying the sea ... and what I learn from it then, lasts me until the next time." Breakers at Floodtide is likely taken from studies executed in the summer of 1908 or 1909 at Bailey Island, Maine. Waugh's studies done during these summer visits were later worked into finished compositions, enlarged or integrated into composite views upon returning to his studio. Waugh exhibited Breakers at Floodtide in the 1916 Spring Annual at The Detroit Institute of Arts. It is a fine example of the painter's style, typical of the period, and executed in a controlled manner with more detail evident than in his later works. His passionate exploration of this subject resulted in a singular ability to capture the aura and movement of the tumultuous waves and the generalized sensation and atmosphere of the sea, establishing Waugh as one of the US's foremost marine painters. |
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Murió el 13 de septiembre de1873: Eduardo
Rosales, pintor realista
español, nacido en 1836. Nacido en Madrid, cursó estudios en la Academia de San Fernando, donde fue discípulo de Luis Ferrant y de Federico Madrazo, entre otros ilustres profesores. En 1855 trasladó su residencia a Roma y allí trabajó como copista. En 1862 decidió mandar una de sus obras a la Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, gracias a la cual obtuvo una Mención Honorífica. Su arte volvió a ser premiado en la Exposición de 1864, por su obra Testamento de Isabel la Católica, que obtuvo una medalla de Primera Clase. Repitió éxito en la Exposición Universal de París, en 1867, con El Duque de Atenas, al serle concedida la Cruz de la Legión de Honor, y en la Exposición de 1871, donde obtuvo de nuevo la medalla de Primera Clase por La muerte de Lucrecia. Fue nombrado director de la Academia Española de Bellas Artes de Roma, pero murió antes de poder tomar posesión del cargo. Sus últimas obras fueron los evangelistas San Juan y San Mateo para la Iglesia de Santo Tomás de Madrid. Algunas de sus creaciones más famosas son Don Juan de Austria es presentado a su padre Carlos V retirado en Yuste, Retrato de Manuel Cortina, Naranjero o La venta de novillos. Queen Isabella's will (290x400cm) This canvas afforded Eduardo Rosales, whose many problems and illness made his artistic life less than perfect, definite recognition, and it was only at the end of his life that his worth was truly appreciated. This canvas earned him first prize and the sale of the canvas to the State at the Spanish National Exposition in 1864. He also presented it in Paris where it earned him the First Medal and the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor. When Rosales was searching for a theme for his entry for the National Exposition he wanted to "find a matter of great importance in our history", which turned out to be the will that the Catholic queen left upon her death, considered the best testament to her character and to her political philosophy. Isabella appears on her deathbed, with canopy and curtains, dictating to her seated scribe the contents of her will. Sitting in a chair, bent over and defeated, is king Ferdinand, with their daugther and heiress, Princess Juana, known as "La Loca". In the group on the right is the covered figure of Cardinal Cisneros, who would later become the Regent of Castile. Presentación de don Juan de Austria a Carlos V en Yuste |
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Born on 13 September 1601: Jan Brueghel
II, Flemish painter who died on 01 September 1678. Grandson
of Pieter
Bruegel Sr., son of Jan
Velvet Brueghel Sr. (1568~1625), nephew of Pieter
Brueghel Jr. (1564~1638), brother of Ambrosius Brueghel (1617~1675).
— Jan Brueghel the Younger devoted his career to carrying on his father’s painting style. Demand was high for big, decorative landscapes and works by fijnschilders, painters of meticulous detail, who worked in the vein of Jan Brueghel the Elder. To satisfy the market, Jan the Younger sometimes copied his father’s works and sold them under his father's signature. In consequence, it is often difficult to distinguish their styles, though Jan the Younger’s few dated pictures show lighter colors and less precise drawing. After training under his father, Jan the Younger went to Italy in 1624, traveling with his childhood friend Anthony van Dyck. When Jan the Elder died suddenly in a cholera epidemic, Jan the Younger took over his father’s busy Antwerp studio. He became dean of Antwerp’s guild in 1630. His clients included the Austrian and French courts, and he may have visited France in the 1650s. While Jan the Younger painted many subjects, he is best known for landscapes whose subjects ranged from villages, to mythological scenes, to allegories and, to a new category, animals in landscapes. His allegories depicted the senses, the elements, the seasons, and abundance. Like his father, he created landscape backgrounds for many painters, including Peter Paul Rubens and Hendrick van Balen. LINKS Paradise (1620) Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (1628, painted in cooperation with Rubens) — Landscape with Allegories of the Four Elements with figures by Frans Francken II (1635, 53x81cm; 415x640pix, 86kb) _ Four seated women representing water, air, earth, and fire are surrounded by a lush landscape. The fish flowing from the water jug and the cornucopia of abundance cradled in the arms of the figure on the right correspond to the tactile elements of water and earth. The birds in the sky and trees and the accoutrements of battle in the foreground correspond to the intangible elements of fire and air. The figures, the still life objects, and the landscape work together as a unified scene, yet two different artists worked to create this painting. Frequent collaborators, the skilled figure painter Frans Francken II painted the women and background figures, and Jan Brueghel the Younger described the landscape. Such collaboration between artists was common in Antwerp during the 1600s, as artists often specialized in either landscape or figure painting. Flemish artists of the time repeatedly painted representations of the four elements, suggesting that it was a popular subject with buyers. The widely admired Brueghel the Younger depicted the senses, the elements, or the seasons as allegories many times throughout his career, either together or individually, as in the pendant to this painting, Landscape with Ceres (Allegory of Earth). — Landscape with Ceres (Allegory of Earth) with figures by Hendrik van Balen (53x81cm) _ Shown separately or together, as in Landscape with Allegories of the Four Elements, the four elements were a popular subject for Jan Brueghel the Younger and his collaborator Hendrik van Balen. Here earth is represented by the goddess Ceres, who is surrounded with a satyr, putti, and a figure holding a sheaf of wheat. Ceres, whose name means “creator,” was the goddess of agriculture, worshiped over a large part of ancient Italy Together Jan the Younger and Van Balen often painted the four elements, which had also been part of the repertoire of Jan the Younger’s father, Jan Brueghel the Elder. Brueghel the Elder taught his son the lush, decorative, yet highly detailed landscape and still life style seen in this painting. Van Balen, one of Jan the Younger’s most consistent collaborators, was known for his attractive nudes. This panel was probably one of his latest works; he had begun painting figures for the Brueghel family years before, working with his friend Jan the Elder in addition to collaborating with Frans Snyders and Frans Francken II. |