2007 Catalogue - Colnaghi

Of all the European artists who made their way to Italy
during the seventeenth century to study at the
fountainhead of art, the still-life and the landscape
painters of Flanders demonstrated the greatest capacity
to assimilate the native culture and to enter the
mainstream of Italian society. This phenomenon was
exemplified in its every detail by the career of the
still-life painter Abraham Brueghel.
Abraham Brueghel was the most talented and
successful son of Jan Brueghel the Younger. Trained
by his father, he had already sold a small flower
painting by his son when Abraham was just fifteen
years old. Like his grandfather Jan Brueghel the Elder,
also known as the Velvet Brueghel, Abraham travelled
to Italy. It was the preference for many young aspiring
artists to complete their training and gain invaluable
experience before returning home, however Brueghel
never returned. He settled in Rome where he quickly
established a reputation for his still-lifes. Already in
1649 an inventory of his patron Prince Antonio Ruffo
records nine flower paintings by the eighteen-year-old
artist. During the 1670s Brueghel moved to Naples,
where he remained for the rest of his life.
07
Abraham Brueghel
(Antwerp 1631 – 1697 Naples)
Still-Life of a Watermelon, Cherries, Peaches, Apricots, Plums, Pomegranate
and Figs with Lilies, Roses, Morning Glory and other Flowers on an Acanthus Stone Relief,
a mountainous Landscape beyond
Signed lower left: ABrughel. Fe (AB linked)
Oil on canvas
53 3 /8 x 69 1 /2 in. (135.6 x 176.5 cm.)
32
His native predilection for decorative profusion and
anecdote, Brueghel seamlessly grafted the sweeping
movement of the High Baroque style of his Italian
contemporaries, such as Michelangelo Campidoglio
and Michelangelo Cerquozzi and the result can be
found in compositions that appear to have been
conceived with remarkable casualness, but which still
maintain the firmness of composition and clarity of
detail associated with the artist’s Northern heritage.
Due to the relative constancy of the artist’s mature style
and the scarcity of dated works, it has proved difficult
to trace the chronology of the Brueghel’s artistic
development. Generally it would appear that his
brushstrokes were slightly more painterly during his
Roman period, while his colouring became brighter
and stronger during his later years. Our picture can
be dated to the second half of the 1670s where
the crispness of detail, the smooth handling and
the strength of colour are all characteristic of his
later style. 1