JAN PIETER BRUEGHEL (1628-1664)

Virgin and Child with Saint John and Saint Anne Oil on copper, signed lower right. Size : 44,7 x 44,7 cm An Antwerp painter of still lifes and garlands, from the famous Brueghel dynasty, he began his career with his father, Jan Brueghel the Younger, before continuing his training in Liège in Walther Damery's workshop and in Italy with his younger brother Abraham. It was in Venice that he painted a garland of flowers with the return of the Prodigal Son in collaboration with Erasmus Quellinus. Jan Pieter's style is strongly influenced by that of his grandfather, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan de Heem, with bouquets often composed of flowers that bloom in different seasons. For the creation of his garlands, he regularly collaborated with figure painters in the manner of Hendrick van Balen, Frans Francken the Younger, Rubens and Daniel Seghers. This genre was inspired by the cult of veneration and adoration of the Virgin that prevailed at the Habsburg court before the cartouche scenes were later replaced by secular scenes. Erasmus Quellinus was one of his most frequent collaborators in the representation of figures.