1601 – Antwerp – 1678
Jan Brueghel the Younger, the eldest son of Jan 'Velvet’ Brueghel and his first wife, Isabelle de Jode, was born in Antwerp on 13th September 1601.
As early as 1603, his childhood was overshadowed by the death of his mother. Jan was initiated in the art of painting in his father’s studio. He was almost fifteen years old when his father thought of sending him to Italy – this plan was made all the more possible since “Velvet” Brueghel was counting on a noble patron in Milan, Cardinal Borromeo. He only left in May 1622. He did indeed stop in Milan, where he entered into the family circles of the cardinal before continuing his journey onto Sicily, but the sudden death of his father in 1625 brought an end to this trip. He returned to Antwerp on 12th August 1625, and immediately registered as a member of the Guild of Saint Luke and the adjoining ‘De Violere’ chamber of rhetoric, where he was promoted to dean as early as 1630. He took over the management of the family studio and recorded his activities in a diary, which he kept between 1625 and 1651. In 1626, Jan married Anne-Marie Janssens, daughter of the famous painter Abraham Janssens, at the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.
Although he remained close to the subjects of his father, he did however renew their conception, adapting himself to the desires of his contemporaries. He substituted the mannerist style, prevalent until then, with a more realistic, simple and light-hearted art.
In his exceptionally elegant floral paintings, he abandoned compact arrangements and instead, treated each richly sculptured flower as an entity in itself, thus revealing the beauty of each one. He therefore depicted a space where forms were organised more freely, treated with a succession of precise and rapid strokes, and given generous and deep contours.
Today, his work is admired by connoisseurs and his skill is such that sometimes, his works are confused with his father’s. His art, helped by the incredible softness of his palette, excels as much in the landscapes featuring rivers and woods enlivened with figures, as in his still lifes.
A smooth, glossy colour, which reflects the same enthusiasm that renders each painting a feast for the eye, makes Jan Brueghel the Younger, through his personal endeavours, a precursor of modern painting.
