Jan Brueghel the Younger Hendrick van Balen Antwerp 1601 - 1678 Antwerp 1575 - 1632

E. A. Treherne Esq., Hollow Hill, Mitchingham, Suffolk;
Sale ('The Property of Mrs. Treherne'), London, Sotheby's, 20 November 1957, lot 130, for 1400 gns (as Jan Brueghel the Elder).

K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Altere, Cologne 1979, cat. no. 303 (as Jan Brueghel the Elder, datable circa 1615; here and below known to the authors only via the 1959 sale photograph);
B. Werche, Hendrick van Balen, Turnhout 2004, vol. I, p. 161, cat. no. A70, reproduced vol. II, p. 365 (as Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Younger?; with incorrect measurements [in. mistaken for cm.]);
K. Ertz and C. Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Altere, Lingen 2008–10, vol. II, fig. 343/2, under cat. no. 343 (as Jan Brueghel the Younger?).

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Jan Brueghel the Younger. The Feast of Bacchus. This painting is on a fine oak panel, which was perfectly selected and has remained flat and beautifully preserved, with one central joint which has never moved or been reglued. There are narrow added strips down both sides and along the top edge. The minute detail is remarkably intact within each figure, and indeed within the smallest flower, down to the most minute fronded ears of corn around the head of a nymph or the precise glow of the fruit around the feet of the gods, not to mention a horse and cart just faintly to be seen crossing a distant field at far left. These perfectly preserved individual objects were set into surroundings which have proved slightly more vulnerable over time, especially in the foreground, where there are little patches of wear, with occasional wear also for instance just above the heads of the central gods beside some exquisite flowers. The middle distance on the right has also has a certain amount of wear in the ground and paths leading away into the distance, where some retouching has slightly darkened, as similar little retouchings have also elsewhere in the small touches to the surrounding background. Miraculously the individual flowers and figures have remained perfectly preserved. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This is amongst Jan Brueghel the Younger and Hendrick van Balen’s most successful collaborations. Its near-perfect state of preservation reveals an extraordinary depth, richness and variety of pigments and has ensured the survival of all of its exquisite details. It is an optimistic scene, with Venus, Bacchus and Ceres enjoying the plentiful bounty of a summer’s harvest that continues apace in the fields beyond. The subject provided the perfect marriage of Van Balen’s idealised and highly polished figures with the intricate handling of Brueghel’s brush for the landscape and still life elements, and it is thus not surprising to find two further versions of the composition, both of similar dimensions, though both set in a rather more enclosed space.¹ Both of these, one of which is in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and the other formerly in a French private collection, include three figures that do not feature in the present version: a satyr holding a jug behind the central figure group, and two further satyrs lounging on the ground in the front left. Like the present version, the latter was catalogued by Ertz as by Jan Brueghel the Elder, datable circa 1615, in his seminal 1979 work on the artist.

THE SEAL
On the reverse of the panel is an unusual wax seal showing the arms of the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp with, above, a dove with an olive branch in its beak representing the Chamber of Rhetoricians called ‘De Olijftak’ (the olive branch). The small flowers on either side are symbolic of the another chamber called ‘De Violieren’ (the Matthiola flower). These two chambers developed strong links within the painter’s guild of St Luke. Beneath the dove is written the motto of the Violieren Chamber of Rhetoricans in Antwerp: Uyt ionsten versaemt. It means ‘United through the arts’.

1.  See B. Werche, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 160–61, nos. A68 and A69, reproduced vol. II, pp. 363–64.