Sebastiaan Vrancx

Bought by the father of the present owner from his father-in-law in December 1932.

The catalogue illustration is a good representation of the actual painting, although the Autumn is slightly darker in tone. All four canvases are relined (glue). The paint layer of all four canvases is stable and in good condition. No major damages or paint losses are visible, only a very few filled and retouched paint losses. Minor thinness occurs in all four paintings, especially in some parts of the back and foreground. All four paintings show a dense cracquelure pattern which varies in places. All four paintings have a very dirty and old varnish layer which is covered with surface dirt. Inspection under UV-light is impeded by the old varnish layer, but all the canvases appear not to have been restored extensively in the past. Additional remarks on the individual paintings: SPRING: a small filled and retouched damage upper left and a dent in the lower left corner. SUMMER: scattered candle wax throughout the lower half of the painting and light vertical creases in the upper right corner are visible, as well as one in the centre. Stretcher marks can be seen along the lower edge. AUTUMN: an indentation in the canvas lower left corner and a small repaired damage in the tree upper right. WINTER: a small diagonal scratch of approx. 3 cm in one of the branches centre left, along the edge and a small filled and retouched damage lower centre. All four paintings are offered in new, ebonised wood frames, in excellent condition. (JD)
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This hitherto unrecorded series is an excellent example of Vrancx's allegorical representations of the Four Seasons. Such cycles of paintings were very much in demand in Flanders in the early 17^th Century, and their popularity is attested by the many copies that have survived. In this case, we are dealing with a series that in both conception and execution is the work of the master himself. Characteristic elements of his style are present throughout, in the accurate contours and strong colour accents of the figures, the emphasis on anecdotal details and the clear and uniform lighting that reinforces the descriptive quality of his work.

Vrancx's allegories of the Four Seasons are much indebted to the pictorial tradition of 16th Century Flemish painting and in particular to the compositions of Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525/30-1569). In this tradition, the time of year is linked to certain human activity, which was in turn, influenced by the rhythm of nature. Vrancx closely followed the artistic conventions of his time.¹ The depiction of Spring shows the festivities around the Maypole, a symbol of fertility of crops, cattle and humans. May was also associated with love ("minne-maand") and courting activities by the gentry, often juxtaposed against labouring peasants in the countryside. Summer centres on the hay and wheat harvest and features peasants with sickles, whereas Autumn shows the harvest of apples and grapes; the slaughter of cattle is the main motif of winter imagery. 
A striking difference between Vrancx and Brueghel is the pre-eminence of human figures in a depiction of the Four Seasons. Brueghel treated his figures in such series as secondary to the landscape, often seen from the back, dissolving in the magnitude of the surrounding nature (compare Brueghel the Elder's famous series of the Twelve Months, especially the three works in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). With Vrancx, the figures become the main focus, encouraging the viewer to really explore all them and their differing activities.

As mentioned earlier, the large quantity of series associated with Vrancx seems to indicate that he had pupils who made copies or workshop variants. However, this hypothesis is problematic because contemporary sources say that Vrancx did not take on pupils to enlarge his output. According to a letter written by the artist and dealer Jan Breughel the Younger to his business companion in Seville "Vrancx has plenty to do, but refuses to employ studio assistants, which means that the work takes a long time. He does not allow copies to be put in circulation".² Therefore the many copies of lesser quality were not produced under the supervision of Vrancx himself, but by painters who worked for Antwerp art dealers, and were presumably intended for the mass produced art market. Those copies were probably based on the prints in circulation, such as Matthaeus Merian the Elder's series of four etchings representing the Four Seasons after Vrancx, published in 1622³ of which the preliminary drawings are in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg (inv. no. 57/299).

This series shows Vrancx's mature style of the 1630s, evident in the slightly elongated figures and fuzzy treatment of the foliage, although certain elements are based on earlier inventions. See for example the Italian looking edifice in the centre of Autumn which can be found in his sketchbook of his Italian sojourn in Chatsworth, Duke of Devonshire Collection.⁴ Vrancx also reused the architectural elements of the palace in Spring and the walled city in Winter in numerous other compositions whether as part of a series or as an independent composition, compare An elegant company promenading outside a palace, with Johnny van Haeften, 2005.⁵

Being a key figure in the transition between 16th and 17th Century art, Vrancx is primarily remembered as a painter of battle scenes (see lot 20 in this sale). However, his oeuvre is quite diverse, ranging from high-life genre pieces, mythological and biblical narratives to pure landscapes and market scenes.  Although Vrancx must have been exposed to the emerging baroque style of his Antwerp contemporaries and during his stay in Rome ca. 1596-1601, he adhered to the linear and traditional manner of the Brueghel tradition, at the time coined the stilus humilis (humble style), which centred on the realistic depiction of popular subjects. In Vrancx's art, we often find a tragi-comic view on human kind and its activity that may have found its roots in his work as member of the Antwerp rhetoricians chamber "de Violieren" for which he wrote farces, comedies and tragedies.⁶ For example, in the present depiction of Spring, we can see a distinct social divide between the pompous celebrations of the young gentry by the palace and the working peasants along the path lined with thatched cottages, dancing around the maypole in the distance. This moralizing message seems to be subtly embedded in the rest of the series in which the well-to-do are clearly not involved in the activities of the lower class.

A variant of this series, now thought to be by Vrancx, was sold London, Sotheby's, 8 December 1971, lots 128-131 (as by Vrancx's pupil Peeter Snayers). 

1.See for a discussion on the theme of the Four Seasons in the art of the Low Countries Y. Bruijnen, "Over de Twelf Maendekens en de Vier Tyden 's iaers. De Maanden en Jaargetijden in de kunst van de Nederlanden circa 1500-1750", Y. Bruijnen and P. Huys Janssen, De Vier Jaargetijden in de kunst van de Nederlanden, 1500-1750, exhibition catalogue, 's-Hertogenbosch 2002, pp. 51-72.
2. As quoted by  P.C. Sutton, The Age of Rubens, exhibition catalogue, New York 1993, p. 468.
3. See F.W.H. Hollstein, German engravings, etchings and woodcuts 1400-1700, Amsterdam 1954-86, vol. XXVI, nos. 525-528, 529-532, pp. 203-9, reproduced.
4. M. Jaffé,  The Devonshire collection of Northern European drawings, Turin 2002, vol. II, p. 266, cat.no. 1289, reproduced.
5. Dutch and Flemish Old Master Paintings XV, Johnny van Haeften, London 2005, under cat. no. 71, reproduced.
6. J. Vander Auwera, Van (aanleg) tekening tot schilderij: Sebastiaen Vrancx en zijn samenwerking met andere meesters, exhibition catalogue, Brussels 2004, p.6