The Four Elements: Earth
Jan Brueghel the Younger (Antwerp 1601 - Antwerp 1678)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1625 - 1632
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
476 x 825 mm (18 3/4 x 32 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Kingston Lacy Estate, Dorset
NT 1257087
Caption
Earth is represented here by the goddess Ceres, goddess of agriculture, holding a cornucopia, a large abundant horn, and accompanied by a satyr and fruit-bearing putti. In 1609 Brueghel was appointed court painter to Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella, who had collected exotic and unusual animals from across the world, creating a menagerie in Brussels. He was able to study them from life rather than stuffed. There are a superb pair of leopards stretching and nuzzling, later copied by his more celebrated friend and occasional collaborator, Rubens. This is a unique version of the many repeated sets of the Four Elements from the Brueghel Antwerp studio from the early 17th century. This set was not recorded at Kingston Lacy until 1905, probably bought by the widow of Walter Ralph Bankes, née Henrietta Fraser.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, The Four Elements: Earth, by Jan Brueghel the younger (Antwerp 1601 - Antwerp 1678) and Hendrik van Balen the elder (Antwerp 1575 - Antwerp 1632), circa 1625/32. Earth in this painting appears to be personified by a composite figure derived from such embodiments of the generative abundance of Nature, as Cybele and Pomona.
Provenance
Acquired after 1905, probably by Henrietta Jenny Fraser, Mrs Walter Ralph Bankes (1871 -1953); bequeathed by her son, Ralph Bankes (1902 – 1981)
Credit line
Kingston Lacy, The Bankes Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
EARTH (painted in black on fixed gilt label, bottom right-hand side)
Makers and roles
Jan Brueghel the Younger (Antwerp 1601 - Antwerp 1678) , artist Hendrik van Balen the Elder (Antwerp 1575 - Antwerp 1632), artist
Exhibition history
In Trust for the Nation, National Gallery, London, 1995 - 1996, no.60d
