Mogelijk atelier Jan Brueghel I (1568-1628) - Madonna met kind omringd door bloemenguirlande

Research based on photos by Dr. Fred Meijer (by mail 25 February, 2019) : "I have the photos of this beautifully preserved painting of a Madonna with Child surrounded by a flower wreath (panel, 64. 5 x 49 cm) studied. . . . (. . . .) The panel mark is indeed the mark of the city of Antwerp, together with the monogram LS of the panel maker Lambrecht Steens who became a guild member in 1608 and died in 1638. As far as is known, this monogram was also used by Lambrecht Steens II (probably his son) , who died in 1651 . . . . . (. . .) . . . . . . . . The type of scene is indeed after creations by Jan Brueghel I, but the style differs significantly. The flowers are painted quite wide and the individual flowers are not after examples from Brueghel’s idiom. In Antwerp, these kinds of Brueghel-imitations, especially in the first half of the seventeenth century (after ca. 1610) , were frequently painted and not only in the studio of Jan Brueghel I and Jan Breughel II. The flowers and the medallion were undoubtedly created by two different hands. The medallion is indeed after a (frequently copied) composition by Jan Gossart. It seems to the painter was also inspired by earlier Italian examples. Not entirely ruled out, is that this painting was created in the Breughel studio, but there is an equal chance that it was painted in another Antwerp Studio. "Drs. Marina Aarts, art historian and researcher/appraiser of old masters, evaluated the panel and attributed it to the studio of Jan Brueghel I (1568 – 1625) . In her report she mentioned the following: "An oval painting of the Madonna with Child surrounded by a flower garland. Oil on Panel, 64. 5 x 49 cm; the panel is marked with the hands of the city of Antwerp and the markof panel maker Lambert Steens. This painting is a wonderful example of the special genre developed in Antwerp in the first quarter of the 17th century showing a central image of the Madonna with Child or another religious scene, in a architectural niche or not. The creator of the painted floral wreath was Jan Brueghel I (1568 – 1625) when he delivered a small painting on copper, of a flower garland surrounding the image of the Madonna with Child by Hendrick van Balen to Cardinal Federico Borromeo in Milan in February 1608”. This painting is from a private collection of old masters.