RCEWA Case 7 (2014-15): The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, by Jan Brueghel
the Elder
Expert adviser’s statement
Reviewing Committee Secretary’s note: Please note that any illustrations referred
to have not been reproduced on the Arts Council England website
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625)
The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man
Oil on copper, 23.7 x 36.8 cm
Signed and dated bottom left: ‘[…]EGHEL. 1613’
Condition
Judging from a high resolution image only, the condition seems to be exceptionally
good.
Provenance
Pietro (1760-1833) and Vincenzo Camuccini (1771-1844), Rome;
acquired with the Camuccini collection by Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of
Northumberland (1792-1865) in 1853 (valued at £100);
thence by descent;
Exhibited
Festival of Britain Exhibition, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Hatton Gallery), 1951, no. 3.
T. Ellis & D. Garlick, From Northern Collections: Dutch and Flemish Paintings of the
17th Century, Pottery and Porcelain, Barnard Castle (The Bowes Museum), 1963, no.
4.
Literature
G. F. Waagen, Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, London 1857, p. 471 (as
displayed at Alnwick Castle).
C. H. Collins Baker, Catalogue of the Pictures in the Collection of the Duke and
Duchess of Northumberland at Syon House, Alnwick Castle, Albury Park and 17,
Princes Gate, London 1930, p. 14, no. 52 (as displayed at Alnwick Castled).
K. Ertz & C. Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere (1568-1625): Kritischer Katalog der
Gemälde, 4 vols., Lingen 2008-2010, vol. 2 (2008), pp. 442-443, no. 189, ill.
Elizabeth A. Honig et al., ‘Paradise with Fall of Man (Brentford)’, in: Jan Brueghel Wiki
http://www.janbrueghel.net/Paradise_with_Fall_of_Man_(Brentford) (as Jan
Brueghel the Elder with studio) [accessed on 21 Oct 2014].
Archival Documents [not consulted]
T. Barberi, Catalogo ragionato della Galleria Camuccini in Roma, Rome 1851
[manuscript catalogue, Alnwick Castle, DNP, MS 810], fol. 8.
Manuscript list of the pictures in the Camuccini Gallery and the prices paid [Alnwick
Castle, DNA, F/76A], ‘Camera Seconda, no. 3’.
Inventory of Effects at Alnwick Castle, April 1865 [manuscript, Syon House,
Sy.H.IX.1.n], p.61.
Inventory of Pictures at Alnwick Castle, November 1894 [manuscript, Syon House,
Sy.F.XVII.3a(6)], ‘Eastern Corridor. Tapestry Dressing Room’.
Waverley II: Is the object of outstanding aesthetic importance?
This is an outstanding painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625), arguably the
most important Flemish painter of cabinet pictures in the decades around 1600. This
striking, exceptionally well preserved little copper belongs to a small group of socalled ‘Paradise’ landscapes created around 1612-15 which are among his most
celebrated works. Almost unknown until very recently, it is the smallest but perhaps
most refined of these. It combines a woody landscape with highly detailed
depictions of a large variety of animals and plants, for which Brueghel was
particularly famous and which made these pictures much sought after. There is only
one other ‘Paradise’ landscape of similarly high quality in Britain (dated 1615, Royal
Collection).
Note:
The painting was acquired with the Camuccini collection by Algernon Percy, 4 th Duke
of Northumberland (1792-1865) in 1853. It remained in the family until the recent
sale. As such it formed part of one of the most distinguished private collections in
Britain for more than 150 years. Although, in my view, this does not fully justify a
Waverley I classification, the Committee may wish to consider this aspect.
DETAILED CASE
The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man demonstrates Jan Brueghel’s superb skill as
a painter of indigenous as well as exotic fauna and flora, embedded into a grand
landscape that belies the small scale of the copper support. At the same time, it
conveys the state of perfect harmony in Paradise before the Fall of Man, shown in
tiny figures in the far left.
Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) was the youngest son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
(c.1526/30-1569). Born in Brussels, he travelled to Italy (1589-96) where he met his
lifelong friend and patron Cardinal Federico Borromeo. Upon his return to Flanders,
he settled in Antwerp. A prolific painter and draughtsman, he excelled in small scale
landscapes with figures, history pieces and allegories, and flower still lifes. He was
appointed court painter of Archduke Albert in 1606 and collaborated with Rubens,
Rottenhammer and others. Among his patrons were Cardinals Ascanio Colonna and
Borromeo, Emperor Rudolf II and King Sigismund II of Poland.
Although his landscapes were hugely popular, his ‘Paradise’ and flower paintings
were most successful, earning him the epithets of ‘Flower-Brueghel’ and ‘ParadiseBrueghel’, to distinguish him from his father. His earliest rendering of the Paradise
subject dates from 1594 (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome). Another painting in the
same gallery, dated 1612 (copper, 50.3 x 80.1 cm), marks the beginning of Brueghel’s
renewed interest in the Paradise subject. A year later, he embarked on a very similar
composition in the present work (with many differences in the details), but now on a
much smaller scale.
The subject of ‘The Fall of Man’ provided Brueghel with a religious framework to
display as many species from across the world as possible. The beholder could
contemplate the fate of mankind from the Fall to Salvation. At the same time he (or
she) could dwell on identifying the numerous animals, from indigenous birds such as
grey herons and mute swans to exotic animals such as ostriches, porcupines and
birds of paradise. Brueghel had drawn sketches after life in the celebrated
menageries of Archduke Albert in Brussels and Emperor Rudolf II in Prague.
Moreover, animal groups such as the lions on the left and the leopards on the right,
as well as the stallion demonstrate that Brueghel had access to drawings by Rubens
with whom he had started to collaborate in about 1598. In addition, Brueghel was
aware of the most recent and growing scientific interest in nature around 1600
which saw seminal illustrated publications on animals by Conrad Gessner and Ulisse
Aldovrandi. Finally, this painting also reveals how involved Brueghel had become
with the spiritual context of Borromeo’s counter-reformatory reflection on the
Creation; the Fleming’s art celebrating ‘the magnificence of God perceived through
the contemplation of Nature.’
Compared to the continent, British collections are not particularly rich in paintings by
Jan Brueghel the Elder. There are characteristic landscapes in collections such as,
among others, the National Gallery in London, Apsley House, and the Fitzwilliam
Museum, the latter also holding a flower piece by him.
The Entry of the Animals into the Ark of 1615 at Apsley House (see Appendix, fig. 1),
a variation on Brueghel’s own version of 1613 now in the Getty Museum, also
depicts a great variety of animals, but has a much less satisfying composition and is
less refined in colouring and execution.
The only painting to properly compare with the present work is the Royal
Collection’s Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden of 1615 (see Appendix, fig 2). On
the same level of quality but a considerably larger scale, it shows a similar
composition to The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man, albeit in reverse. The same
year Rubens and Brueghel collaborated on a painting of this subject, now one of the
treasures of the Mauritshuis, The Hague.
The superb quality and condition of the present The Garden of Eden with the Fall of
Man, an exceptional ‘Paradise’ painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder, combined with
the rarity of pictures of its kind in British collections justify for a Waverley II
classification.
APPENDIX
Fig. 1 Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Entry of the Animals into the Ark, 1615, oil on
copper, 26.3 x 37.5 cm, The English Heritage, The Wellington Collection, Apsley
House (WM 1637–1948).
Fig. 2 Jan Brueghel the Elder, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, 1615, oil on
copper, 48.6 x 65.6 cm, Royal Collection (RCIN 405512).