Jan Brueghel the Younger and successor Hendrik van Balen
Allegory of the Four Elements Oil on canvas; framed Austrian Private Collection In sumptuous splendor and with countless details, this painting presents the "Allegory of Elements". The centre is the seated goddess of fertility and agriculture, Ceres, well-known by the Abundantia attribute of the overflowing corneal. Set aside, you represent a sea goddess or nymph, probably amphitrite or galatea, the element of water. Ceres at her feet is a naked figure, probably flora, a vine. Of the two flyingly encircled figures in the upper left corner, the one female figure holds a torch. These are the symbols of fire and air, Vesta and Juno. Around the personifications all the diversity of the sea, land and air is demonstrated in countless fish, birds and other animals, as well as the fertility of the earth in the form of vegetables, fruits and flowers (cf. Klaus Ertz, Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625). ==References== III, p. 1080).
The composition receives its special appeal and a further level of meaning through the representation of a scene from Flemish everyday life in the background. "Gods and people are in the same landscape space. Men are not far off from the gods, but they receive their gifts and accept them. In front of the farmers, who in their existence are especially dependent on the "Magna Mater" nature (Ceres), there are just as many fruits as there are before the goddesses. Humans have created themselves the gods. These cannot become independent, they are not pictured for themselves (as so often in art), but are brought back into relation to their spiritual creators, precisely the human being. The artist's mental act is of great importance because the gods no longer live in the airless space, but among the people themselves." (Ertz 2008, p. 1084) In 1625, Jan Brueghel the younger man had taken over and successfully continued his flourishing workshop after the death of his father. He repeatedly took up the Father's themes and reinterpreted them in his own handwriting. Jan Brueghel the Elder had already created the basic composition for the "Allegory of Elements" in 1604, a painting that is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. However, he had already varied the subject in another painting in 1615, today in Prado, Madrid (cf. Ertz 2008, WVZ 518 & 520). This work is based on the Prado version and was created at the beginning of the 1630s. As Dr. Klaus Ertz observes, the colours of Jan Brueghel's young ones are characteristic of this time of the painter, in which he begins to leave the father's model by hand.
"The wide-ranging theme of allegory is not only occupied by Jan Bruegel d.J. throughout his creative period until well into the 1650s. In addition to the mythological and Christian depictions, this was a theme that interested the artists and their educated customers (in particular the nobility and the clergy who could afford these paintings) to the utmost extent. After the father Jan Brueghel the Elder had died, the son Jan Bruegel the Elder often worked with the figurine painter Hendrick van Balen and, of course, after his death, with numerous other figurines whose work was in succession to Van Balen." (Experts Dr. Klaus Ertz, 19. ==References====External links==* Official website* Official website Jan Brueghel the Younger and Follower of Hendrik van Balen
Allegory of the Four Elements oil on canvas; framedDifference taxed (30% in the premium is 20%). VAT included) / Differential Taxation (30% including 20% sales tax)

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