One of the Four Elements: Air
Hendrik van Balen the Elder (Antwerp 1575 - Antwerp 1632)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1621 - 1632
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
495 x 660 mm (19 1/2 x 26 in)
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732104
Caption
This is one of many versions from the repeated sets of allegorical depictions of the Four Elements, as pictorial encyclopedia of the natural world, from the Jan 'Velvet' Brueghel the Elder (1568- 1625) Antwerp studio in the early 17th century. According to Aristotelian science, the Four Elements were the basic components of the material world, each of which corresponded to one of the 'humours' of the human body and temperament. Air is represented here by a figure of Astronomy with her orrery, a device to indicate the movement and relative position of planets and flocks of exotic birds and the now extinct Dodo. The sets were popular in Italy, particularly with the Brueghel’s patron Cardinal Federico Borromeo (1564—1631), Archbishop of Milan and founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and his assistant, Ercole Bianchi. And in Spain, Philip IV distributed sets among the ladies of the court. They evolved from an individual piece showing all the Elements together in a unified scene, each bearing appropriate attributes and including a profusion of botanical and zoological detail, to four separate works.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, One of the Four Elements: Air, by Jan Brueghel the younger (Antwerp 1601 - Antwerp 1678) and Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp 1575 - Antwerp 1632). A female figure, naked apart from a swirling red robe, sits on a mound in a landscape. Below on the left is a valley which can be seen in a misty pale light. She is holding an orrery, a device to indicate the movement and relative position of planets. She is surrounded by a variety of different birds including a Dodo. There are also putti who both hover in the sky with the birds and are seen standing in the foreground with other astronomical instruments on the right.
Full description
This is one of many versions from the repeated sets of allegorical depictions of the Four Elements, as pictorial encyclopedia of the natural world, from the Jan 'Velvet' Brueghel the Elder (1568- 1625) Antwerp studio in the early 17th century. According to Aristotelian science, the Four Elements were the basic components of the material world, each of which corresponded to one of the 'humours' of the human body and temperament. Air is represented here by a figure of Astronomy with her orrery, a device to indicate the movement and relative position of planets and flocks of exotic birds and the now extinct Dodo. The sets were popular in Italy, particularly with the Brueghel’s patron Cardinal Federico Borromeo (1564 -1631), Archbishop of Milan and founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and his assistant, Ercole Bianchi. And in Spain, Philip IV distributed sets among the ladies of the court. They evolved from an individual piece showing all the Elements together in a unified scene, each bearing appropriate attributes and including a profusion of botanical and zoological detail, to four separate works.
Provenance
Collected by Thomas Lane of Cofflett (1741/2 - 1817) and thence by descent to Reverend Richard Lane (1772 - 1858) and his widow, née Lucy Dennys; according to the inscription on back: given to Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare (1865 - 1947) in 1869 by Lucy Lane; given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: On backing panel in ink: I give to my Grate Grandson / Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare / the Brueghel of Air / Novr 1:t 1869 / Lucy Lane
Makers and roles
Hendrik van Balen the Elder (Antwerp 1575 - Antwerp 1632), artist Jan Brueghel the Younger (Antwerp 1601 - Antwerp 1678) , artist previously catalogued as manner of Jan Brueghel the Elder (Brussels 1568 - Antwerp 1625), artist
