In short

Our composition goes back to paintings from 1610 and 1611 by Jan Brueghel I from the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Lyon and from the Doria Pamphilj collection in Rome. Several versions from Jan Brueghel I and from his son Jan II exist, others are being attributed to their workshops, to Antwerp painters from their circle or from their family (such as the van Kessels). Jan van Kessel I was a grandson of Jan Brueghel I, who had strongly influenced him.

The subject is the Allegory of Earth: the Greek goddess of agriculture and of harvest, Ceres (her Roman name is Demeter) is represented at the centre of the composition. She is holding the Cornucopia, the horn of plenty. The castle at left is said to represent Tervuren, S. of Brussels. That important building was demolished in 1782.

About Ceres, Proserpina and the Four Seasons

In ancient Greek and Roman mythology the existence of four seasons was explained as follows.

The story starts with the abduction of Proserpina (her Roman name is Persephone) by Pluto (Hades), the God of the Underworld, while she was picking flowers.

Proserpina was the beautiful daughter of Ceres (Demeter), the goddess of agriculture and harvest and of Zeus (Jupiter), the ruler of the Gods.

Homer and Ovid tell of Proserpina’s mother’s desperate search for her. Ceres (Demeter) no longer performed her duties. This resulted in a complete standstill in nature, nothing grew anymore.

Finally Zeus (Jupiter) obliged his brother Hades (Pluto) to return Proserpina (Persephone) to her mother Ceres (Demeter). Hades (Pluto) agreed to release her on condition that she had not eaten while she was in the underworld. But Proserpina (Persephone) had eaten six seeds of a pomegranate. She was therefore obliged to return during the six months of autumn and winter to the Underworld; her sad mother, Ceres (Demeter) let therefore nothing grow during these two seasons.

About the Cornucopia

The goddess of agriculture and of harvest, Ceres (Demeter) is represented at the centre of our painting. She is holding her symbol, the Cornucopia, that is the horn of plenty, a symbol of abundance in all its forms: food, flowers or riches.

The Cornucopia goes back to a Greek myth about the birth of Zeus, the upper god. His father, Kronos, devoured all his wife’s new-born babies for it had been foresaid that he was to be overthrown by his own son. Rhea gave birth to Zeus, her sixth child, on the island of Crete, in a cave on Mount Ida. She gave her husband Kronos a stone wrapped in cloth, which he promptly swallowed.

Zeus was hidden for his father and fed by the goat Amalthea. One day Zeus broke off one of her horns, which was said to have the divine power of endlessly providing food.

As to the prophesy, it was full filed: Zeus gave his father some emetic powder, Kronos vomited and out came Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.

Kronos and the Titans were overthrown by Zeus and his brothers and sisters.

About the Castle of Tervuren

The building in the background is said to represent the Castle of Tervuren, which lays not very far from Brussels.

For centuries people thought that Tervuren was the same place as "Fura", where Saint Hubert (Hubertus), the patron saint of the hunters, died in 727 AD. There is however no historical proof of this.

During the Eighty Years’ War the castle of Tervuren became one of the favorite castles of Albert VII (1598 – 1621), the Archduke of Austria and his wife, Isabella of Spain who was the daughter of King Philip II of Spain. Albert and Isabella were the reigning sovereigns of the Habsburg Netherlands (Flanders) between 1598 and 1621.

The Archduke and his wife tried to spent much time at Tervuren, especially during the Twelve Years’ Truce. (1609 – 1621). Sadly from the winter of 1613/14 onwards the Archduke’s health problems with gout worsened; he died in 1621. The castle was demolished in 1782 under the Autrian emperor Joseph II. In fact all three castles of the Archduke have been destroyed: his palace on the Koudenberg in Brussels, his summer retreat in Mariemont and the castle of Tervuren, which he used as his hunting lodge in the Sonian Forest.

About the composition of our painting

In this composition Earth is represented at the centre of the painting by the Greek goddess of agricuture and harvest Ceres (her Roman name was Demeter) holding a cornucopia. She is surrounded by four figures:

• a standing satyr at right with flowers, 
• two putti handing Ceres flowers and grapes,
• a figure at left, possibly a second satyr, holding a sheaf of wheat.

Our painting is a true icon of Flemish Baroque painting. Its composition is derived from a painting that is part of a set of four paintings, representing the Four Elements, made by Jan Brueghel the Elder with the collaboration of Hendrik van Balen. The best-known sets sit in the Fine Arts Museum of Lyon (dating from 1610) and in the Doria Pamphilj collection in Rome (dating from1611). In both those compositions appear some animals that are missing here: a second monkey, a goat or two deers.

The four classical Graeco-Roman elements (Earth, Water, Air and Fire) were believed to reflect the simplest essential parts and principles of which anything can consist or upon which the constitution and fundamental powers of everything are based. During the Renaissance the Four Eelements became a popular subject.

Ceres stands for Earth, Amphitrite for Water, Urania for Air and Vesta (or sometimes Venus in Vulcan’s forge) for Fire.

The painted series of the Four Elements and individual paintings of a single element (such as our Earth) has undoubtedly known a huge popularity in Flanders since the second decade of the 17th Century, their compositional schemes being continuously used by four generations of Antwerp painters linked to the Brueghel family.

About the Brueghel dynasty

Pieter Brueghel I (circa 1525  - 1569) is the most important 16^th century Flemish painter. He died at a fairly young age: his eldest son Pieter II was then aged 14, his youngest son Jan I only 10. His wife died 8 years later, in 1578.

 Both boys were taught painting by their maternal grandmother, Mayken Verhulst, herself a talented painter, and each individually by a less known painter.

Pieter Brueghel II (1564 – circa 1638) painted in the style of his father. He had an extensive workshop that contributed to the popularity of his father’s designs: he copied these extensively with a lot of talent, but also created new compositions.

His younger brother, Jan Brueghel I (1568 – 1625), was much more skilled and successful: he was a great landscape painter and an innovative floral still life painter. The figures in his landscapes were usually painted by collaborators.

Pieter Brueghel III (1589 – circa 1638/39) was the son of Pieter II. He continued working in the line of Pieter II: his compositions were inspired by engravings after Pieter I.

Two sons of Jan Brueghel I were painters:

• Jan Brueghel II (1601 – 1678) studied under his father, went to Italy and returned abruptly at his father’s death (cholera). He took over his father’s studio. He actually did the same as his uncle (Pieter II) had done with his father (Pieter I): he copied the successful compositions of his father (Jan I) and created new works in his style.
• Ambrosius Brueghel (1617 – 1675) was the son of his second wife.

He studied under his half-brother, Jan I. There are only two signed landscapes known by him; a lot of unsigned still-lifes are attributed to him.

A sister of each of these two half-brothers married a painter:

• the sister of Jan II, Paschesia, married the portrait painter Hieronymus van Kessel (1578 – after 1636);
•  Ambrosius’ sister Anna married the very important genre and landscape painter David Teniers II (1610 – 1690).

Jan Brueghel II had married the daughter of the important history painter Abraham Janssens. The couple had eleven children, five of them became painters:

• Jan Peter Brueghel (1628 – circa 1680) was a flower painter;
• Abraham Brueghel (1631 – 1697) was an important still life painter of fruit and of flowers; he moved to Italy at the age of eighteen and never returned;
• Philips Brueghel (1635 -  after 1662) was a still-life painter;
• Ferdinand Brueghel (1637 – after 1662) is said to have been a painter;
• Jan Baptist Brueghel (1647 – 1712) was a still life painter, active in Italy.

To the same fourth generation belong two more painters:

• Jan I van Kessel (1626 – 1679), who was the son of Hieronymus van Kessel. He painted flower still lifes, animal scenes and small cabinet pictures. He was very successful, at first copying his uncle’s style (Jan Brueghel II), later he created his very own style.
• David Teniers III (1638 – 1685), who was the son of David Teniers II; he painted religious scenes and important tapestry cartoons.

The fifth generation is formed by two sons of Jan I van Kessel, who had married the daughter of Ferdinand van Apshoven, a pupil and follower of David Teniers II. Luckily for this summary, of their thirteen children, only two became painters:

• Ferdinand van Kessel (1648 – after 1698) mainly painted genre scenes with monkeys and with cats; he also painted landscapes inspired by Jan Brueghel II (and thus also I).
• Jan II van Kessel (1654 – 1708) settled in Spain circa 1679; he mostly painted portraits, but also still lifes.

Just to make things even more complicated, I can also mention a certain Peter van Kessel who is documented in Germany between 1658 and 1668. Apparently his father had already lived in Germany, but still the museum of Bamberg holds a very German, signed version of the Allegory of Earth by him.

Why should you buy this painting ?

Because it is a marvellous classic composition of 17^th century Flemish painting on copper: it holds an allegorical scene in a dreamlike landscape with finely depicted flowers, fruits and a single monkey.