Provenance: private collection
Singeries (monkeys aping human behaviour) are rare in Jan Brueghel the Younger’s work. Two of them, illustrating tulipomania, are known to us: one of them is in the...
read moreProvenance: private collection
Singeries (monkeys aping human behaviour) are rare in Jan Brueghel the Younger’s work. Two of them, illustrating tulipomania, are known to us: one of them is in the museum in Haarlem and the other belongs to a private collection. The painter enjoys using this satirical tone to relate the failings of society of the time. For this purpose, he replaces human beings with monkeys, a symbol of stupidity and moral decline. It is from this point of view that we should consider this interesting painting of Monkeys smoking and gambling in an interior.
His grandfather, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, was already famous for his painting of a small panel depicting two monkeys, signed and dated 1565. Owned by the greatest 17th century collector in Antwerp, Peter Stevens, this work shows two small, red-headed colobus monkeys, a rare species that the artist may well have seen in the port of Antwerp. Very early on, this painting led to the following question among art historians: should it be interpreted as a simple animal painting or as a satire of the human race? As always in the painting of this era, the truth has many facets and while monkeys do indeed refer to man’s basic passions, the artist nevertheless portrays them with an entirely scientific morphological accuracy. The worthy heir of this great Flemish school, Jan Brueghel the Younger endeavours to portray a great number of monkey species in his painting: macaques, gibbons and other capuchins are featured here, playing with all sorts of pipes and games.
The scene takes place in a typical Antwerp interior. On the walls hung with Cordoba leather, paintings occupy an important place. One of the them, imitating a much-loved subject of Jan Massys, shows a madman accompanied by a young woman. This satirical painting reinforces our painter’s intention: gambling and idleness are harmful to human existence.
The artist subtly stigmatises the society of his day and its fondness for gambling and smoking tobacco. The monkeys eagerly share the long white clay pipes. The latter are undoubtedly the most emblematic accessory of the tobacco culture in the Netherlands and northern Europe. Playing cards lie at their feet: originating from the Far East, the playing cards here take the form they still have today. The suits of the traditional French decks are shown here: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. In our painting, three cards are clearly identifiable and easily interpreted: the five of diamonds stands for money and trade (including the sex trade), while the six and the jack of spades relate to hostility and misfortune. To be more precise, the six of spades symbolises the futile struggle against destiny. Card games are not the only type of entertainment on the programme for this band of troublemakers: the monkey with a black coat proudly destroys a draught board, while others attempt to aim a piece of silver at a gold coin, the prize for the one with the best shot.
Enjoyed by art-lovers throughout the ages, this type of painting was executed by other contemporaries. The nephew of Jan Brueghel the Younger, Jan van Kessel, as well as his half-sister’s husband, David Teniers, were also known as excellent painters of singeries. In a work currently exhibited in the Prado, Teniers portrays monkeys smoking and drinking around a table. While the interior is cruder and resembles a cavern, the central motif of the candlestick clearly has similarities with our painting. However, what makes Brueghel the Younger’s singeries stand out is the range of soft and sparkling colours, and almost caricatured contours and colours applied in an entirely modern manner.
Here, Jan Brueghel the Younger creates a burlesque and mischievous painting, which subtly stigmatises the society of the time. Once featuring in the finest art chambers, singeries continue to delight both lovers of comical images and purists of the Flemish tradition. Combining social anecdote, moral satire and an undeniable aesthetic quality, Jan Brueghel the Younger offers us a singerie worthy of one of the greatest masters of the genre.
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...
read more1601 – 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.
