Art Gallery

Brueghel, Jan the Elder (1568 - 1625). Because of his penchant for certain themes and glowing enamel paint, Jan, the second son of Pieter Brueghel, the elder was given the nickname "Velvet" or "Flower" Breughel. His work, which distinguishes itself from his father's by a refined technique and miniature-like delicateness, was given direction by his grandmother, a miniaturist painter, and his teachers, including Pieter Goetkint and Gillis van Coninxloo. Breughel spent the years 1589-1596 in Italy; he worked in Rome in 1593/94 and then in Milan in 1596 for Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, who became his patron.

In 1597 he returned to Amsterdam and became a member of the Lukas Guild. In 1610 the Archduke of Austria, governor of the Netherlands. appointed him court painter. Breughel was well-to-do and respected, owning several houses in Antwerp as well as a considerable art collection. He was a friend of Rubens with with whom he collaborated, including the magnificient flower garland in Rubens' "Madonna in the Flower Wreath" (Munich, Alte Pinakothek) while Rubens painted Adam and Eve in Breughel's "Paradise" (The Hague, Mauritshuis). Besides historical scenes, he was above all a painter of landscape, often with staffage figures and animals in the foreground, and of flower pieces. As a specialist of "accessories" he collaborated with Frans Francken, Hans Rottenhammer and Momper.