The Four Elements: Fire
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 1257088
Caption
Fire, represented by artificial metallic works of Man (rather than nature) shows Venus arming Aeneas, her mortal son. Vulcan, her heavenly, cuckolded husband, is present at his forge but almost invisible. A unique version of the many repeated sets of the Four Elements from the Brueghel Antwerp studio from the early 17th century.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, The Four Elements: Fire by Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678) and Hendrick van Balen the elder (1575-1632), circa 1625/32. Mars and Venus, at the forge of Vulcan, the latter's cuckolded husband, to the left. Aeneas was the mortal son of Venus.
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
FIRE (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.60b
