LOT DETAILS

Materials:

Oil on canvas

Measurements:

27.75 in. (70.49 cm.) (height) by 37.50 in. (95.25 cm.) (width)

Markings:

Signed indistinctly and dated lower right: ABr[.. .] / 1685

Provenance:

Galleria Nella Longari, Milan, 1992; Abington Auction Galleries, Oakland Park, Florida; Private collection, New York, acquired from the above. Flemish-born artist Abraham Brueghel chose an outdoor setting for this sumptuous late-career still life blending his specialties of fruit, flower and vegetable painting. Arranged on a patch of bare earth in the foreground is a cluster of fruit featuring apples, peaches, purple plums, and on the right side a metal bowl filled with more plums and figs. Tucked behind the bowl is a cut watermelon whose pink flesh is exposed. The vase in the center is overflowing with a variety of colorful flowers including a red and white variegated tulip; a large sunflower on the right with its leaves and a smaller one recently opened near the top of the bouquet; a cluster of pink lilies; cabbage roses on the left; and large stems of white tuberose sprawling at left and right. On the left side of the composition, Brueghel placed some Marina di Chioggia squash with their marvelous bumpy rinds, which were popular with Italian still life painters from the 17th century on. Brueghel, who spent most of his career in southern Italy (Sicily, Rome and Naples), would have been familiar with the Italian penchant for including these fascinating gourds in still life arrangements. Beside the squash in the corner a chestnut brown spaniel wearing a collar with brass bells looks on. Abraham Brueghel was a member of the enormously talented Brueghel dynasty of painters which included his father, Jan Brueghel the Younger, his grandfather, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and his great-grandfather, Pieter Brueghel the Elder. It is likely that this painting, produced on a heavier-weave canvas consistent with Italian production, was painted during Abraham Brueghel's period of residence in Naples. He left Rome during the 1670s, and established himself permanently in Naples in 1674. The companion painting to this work sold through Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, May 16, 2014, lot 6. We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the attribution to Abraham Brueghel in full on the basis of high resolution photographs (communication with Heritage Auctions, May 1, 2018). A photocopy of his letter of June 18, 1992 to a previous owner accompanies this lot.