Jan Brueghel the Elder (Brussels 1568 - 1625 Antwerp) and Jan Brueghel the Younger (Antwerp 1601 - 1678)

Charrière de Severy, Château de Severy, Lausanne;
Private collection, Switzerland;
With Bob Haboldt, Paris, from whom purchased in 2001 by a private collector;
By whom anonymously sold, ('Property of a private collector'), New York, Sotheby's, 24 January 2008, lot 54.

C. Salvi, D'après nature. La nature morte en France au XVIIe siècle, Tournai 2000, p. 8, as Jan Brueghel the Elder;
K. Ertz & C. Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere (1568-1625). Kritischer Katalog der Gemälde, vol. III, Blumen, Allegorien, Historie, Genre, Gemäldeskizzen, Lingen 2008–10, p. 901, cat. no. 427,  reproduced p. 903, as Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan Brueghel the Younger.

The following condition report is provided by Patrick Corbett who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Support: The fine copper panel is of the highest quality; there is no evidence of trimming; however, both upper corners have suffered slightly in the past but remain satisfactory. Paint layer: The very precise application of this layer is typical of this master's output. The whole gamut of available pigments is employed which, apart from the basic earths, lead white and a carbon black, include azurite for the blue passages, madder root lake, vermilion and a lead/tin yellow. Because of the exceptional state of preservation of this layer, the majority of in-paintings (dry ground artist's pigments in Mowilith 20, Hoechst) may be described as cosmetic, the exceptions being a panel crease mark upper left and the small loss beneath the glass vase lower centre. The final varnish is dammar and Paraloid B72 Not only is the condition of this important example of the oeuvre of these eminent Antwerp masters excellent, the state of preservation of its support, unlike many Antwerp copper panels of this period, is commensurate with the recto in both quality and 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."

This painting is a fascinating example of the collaboration of Jan Brueghel the Younger and his father, and will be included in the forthcoming addendum to the catalogue raisonné of the works of Jan Brueghel the Younger by Klaus Ertz.

Jan the Younger trained in his father's studio and began painting flower pieces at an early age. Many of his still lifes are either modeled on paintings by his father or derivations of his compositions. In 1622 he traveled to Italy and stayed in Milan with Cardinal Federico Borromeo. The Cardinal was his father's patron and the man for whom he had painted his first flower piece, the Large Bouquet of Flowers in an Earthenware Vase, now in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan. In the spring of 1624 Jan the Younger went to Palermo with his friend from childhood, Anthony van Dyck, but returned to Antwerp in 1625 on the death of his father, two sisters and a brother from cholera.  

Ertz points out that while most of Still Life of Tulips and Roses in a Glass Vase is executed in a relatively loose manner characteristic of Jan the Younger, some details are tighter and more controlled.¹ He points especially to the treatment of the tulips, which are finely painted and very three-dimensional in form, as the work of Jan the Elder.² As a collaborative work, the painting must date from the early 1620s, while Jan the Younger was still in his father's studio and before he departed for Italy. 

In a variant of the present work, Flowers in a Glass Vase with a Poem, the bouquet and setting are the same, but there is a poem about the ephemeral nature of worldly things, on a sheet of paper attached to the ledge. The painting was formerly given to Jan Brueghel the Elder, but Ertz has reattributed it to Jan Brueghel the Younger.³ Thus rather than following Flowers in a Glass Vase with a Poem, Still Life of Tulips and Roses in a Glass Vase is the prime version of this composition, executed by Jan Brueghel II under the direction of and with the assistance of his father.

1. K. Ertz, written report, January 6, 1998.

2. Ertz 1998.

3. S. Segal, A Flowery Past. A Survey of Dutch and Flemish Flower Painting from 1600 until the Present, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam and Hertogenbosch 1982, p. 22, fig. 6, as Jan Brueghel the Elder. K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere (1568–1625). Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Cologne 1979, p. 530, note 350, as Jan Brueghel the Younger and K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601–1678). The Paintings with Oeuvre Catalogue, Luca 1984, vol. I, pp.72 and 442–43, as Jan the Younger.