Abraham Brueghel, a pair (2)

(Antwerp 1631–1697 Naples)
A watermelon, peaches, plums and grapes with roses in a landscape; and Apples, melons, figs, grapes and cherries with a bas-relief in a landscape,
both bear signatures,
oil on canvas, each 95 x 73 cm, framed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy

Literature:
L. Salerno, La natura morta italiana 1560-1805/Still life painting in Italy 1560–1805, Rome 1984, pp. 192-3, figs. 47.3-47.4;
L. Salerno, Nuovi studi su La Natura morta italiana, Rome 1989, the second composition mentioned p. 84;
L. Trezzani in: G. Bocchi/U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma. Artisti stranieri 1630-1750/Still life painters in Rome. Foreign artists 1630-1750, Viadana 2004, the second composition mentioned p. 131

We are grateful to Fred Meijer for confirming the attribution on the basis of high resolution digital photographs.

The warm palette, rich impasto and soft brushstrokes of the present paintings are distinctive traits of Abraham Breughel´s pictorial language, revealing the influence of Roman baroque painting. His output in turn became a point of reference for artists specialised in still-life painting during the second half of the seventeenth century. Brueghel’s compositions are distinctive for the variety of fruits and flowers represented, and frequently for the archaeological motifs they include, such as vases sculpted with bas-relieves or antique fragments, elements which were inspired by his long Roman sojourn.

The artist’s desire to appropriate Italianate classicising elements is evident. Indeed, in the first a vase containing roses is ornamented with an ancient river god. It is surrounded buy an abundance of fruit including peaches, grapes and half a watermelon, which stands out for the naturalistic detail of a knife plunged into its flesh, a motif that appears in many of the artist’s works and serves as a maker’s-mark (see L. Trezzani in: G. Bocchi/U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma. Artisti stranieri 1630-1750/Still life painters in Rome. Foreign artists 1630-1750, Viadana 2004, p. 131, p. 132, fig. AB.15, p. 141, fig. AB.25).

In the second painting, a fragment of antique relief sculpted with three togate figures is prominent, this motif derives from the Column of Trajan. The same relief also occurs in other paintings by the artist, such as the Still-life with a bas-relief from a private collection (see L. Salerno, Nuovi Studi su La Natura Morta Italiana, Rome 1989, p. 86, fig. 77 and L. Trezzani, Pittori di natura morta..cit., p. 133, fig. AB.16) and another which shares an almost identical composition to the one under discussion here; the latter was on the art market (sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 26 January 2007, lot 388).

Abraham Brueghel was the son of Jan Brueghel II (1601-1678), he trained with his father in Antwerp and later moved to Rome, where he is documented from 1659. In the eternal city he came into contact with other artists who specialised in still-life painting, notably Michelangelo del Campidoglio and Mario Nuzzi, and subsequently evolved his style, which determined his success among the most important patrons of the age and made him famous. During the 1670s he was admitted membership to the Virtuosi al Pantheon and he was inducted into the Accademia di San Luca. He later moved to Naples where he continued to conduct a brilliant career.