Studio of Jan Brueghel the Elder Brussels 1568 - 1625 Antwerp

Another version of this design, also on panel but of slightly smaller dimensions (48 by 67cm.) was formerly in the Theodor Stroefer collection, when it was attributed to Jan Brueghel the Elder.¹  This or perhaps another version, later with Galerie Müllenmeister in Solingen, and sold New York, Christie's, 31 January 1997, lot 17, was later published by  Klaus Ertz (Jan Brueghel der Jüngere, Freren 1984, pp. 453-4, cat. no. 289a, reproduced) as the work of Jan Brueghel the Younger. The present painting differs chiefly in the inclusion of a different vase of flowers on the far right hand side of the composition. Although no prime original by Brueghel the Elder survives, the design is, as Ertz observes, derived directly from his still lifes of the second decade of the 17th century, in particular, the Still life with tazza and flower garland in Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, which he dates to around 1618.²  Ertz proposes a similar dating of around 1620 for the ex-Stroefer painting.

1. K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Altere, Cologne 1979, p. 614, no. 339, p. 301, fig. 376.
2. Idem., pp. 613-614, cat. no. 337, reproduced p. 300, fig. 374.