- 15
Studio of Jan Breughel the Younger
Description
- Jan Breughel the Younger
- A Kunstkammer with Venus
- oil on oak panel
- 59cm by 88cm
Provenance
Acquired by Baron Coppée in 1939;
Thence by descent.
Exhibited
Tokyo, Tobu Museum of Art, The World of Bruegel. The Coppée Collection and Eleven International Museums, 29 March – 25 June 1995, no. F32 (as by Jan van Kessel the Elder).
Literature
K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601–1678). The Paintings with Oeuvre Catalogue, Freren 1984, p. 348–49, under cat. no. 183 (as a copy);
A. Balis, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard XVIII. Hunting Scenes, New York 1986, vol. II, pp. 116 and 118, n. 3 (with incorrect dimensions), reproduced fig. 44 (with Venus clothed);
S. Leclercq et al., La Collection Coppée, Liège 1991, p. 100, reproduced p.101 (as attributed to Jan van Kessel the Elder);
M. Wilmotte, in the catalogue of the exhibition The World of Bruegel. The Coppée Collection and Eleven International Museums, Tokyo 1995, p.216, no. F43, reproduced p. 215.
Condition
"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."
Catalogue Note
In the present scene, a naked female figure holds up a mirror in the centre of the collector’s cabinet. The presence of Cupid at her side suggests that she may have been intended as Venus, but she could also be taken as a personification of Vanity, or of the Sense of Sight. The drapes with which a later restorer spared her blushes (see fig. 1) have now been removed. Around her stand an array of paintings and works of art. On the table to the right of the figures is a Rape of the Sabines after Giambologna, with four other casts of works by the sculptor set along a shelf at the back of the room, representing Nessus and Deianeira, Hercules slaying Nessus, a Lion attacking a Bull and A Lion attacking a Horse. On the shelf beneath are a series of busts of Roman Emperors and to the right by the loggia the antique sculpture known as the Thusnelda. In the foreground are a series of paintings: from right to left : The Garden of Eden by Jan Brueghel the Elder, a Diana and Actaeon and a Christ healing the Blind, both unidentified. Hung high on the wall is a double portrait of Philip IV and Queen Isabella of Spain after Rubens, and to the left Rubens’ Wild Boar Hunt now in the Museum in Marseilles. Beneath this is a Still-life by Frans Snyders and to its left a portrait of the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand, again based on a Rubens, this time in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. In the upper left corner hangs a still-life of flowers in the style of Jan van Kessel. A sculpture gallery can be glimpsed in a barrel-vaulted room beyond. Various precious trinkets, including shells, coins and astronomical devices, drawings and a nautilus cup litter the foreground, where a monkey is posing as a connoisseur.
1. See Ertz, under Literature 1984, pp. 348–49, cat. no. 183, reproduced.
2. See W. Bernt, The Netherlandish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, Munich 1970, vol. II, no. 615, reproduced.
3. G. Martin, 'Abraham Willemsens (again): More news of attributions in Flemish painting’, in Apollo, February 1993, pp. 99–101.