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Rest on the Forest Edge

Jan Brueghel the Elder

Basic information

ID: Ж-815
Author: Jan Brueghel the Elder
Name: Rest on the Forest Edge
Date of creation: 17th c.
Country: Flanders
Technique: oil painting
Material: copper oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 21.3 x 25.5

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: landscape
Plot: Landscape
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery

Information about author

Author: Jan Brueghel the Elder
Artist's lifetime: 1568–1625
Country: Flanders
Biography: Jan Brueghel the Elder was among the most famous and influential 17th-century Flemish artists. He was the son of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. He likely studied with his brother Pieter Brueghel the Younger in Brussels and later in Peter Goetkint's workshop in Antwerp. The first artist's identified works were created in the mid-1590s. Around 1589, Jan Brueghel the Elder left Antwerp and went to Naples and later to Rome and Milan, where he worked at the court of Cardinal Federico Borromeo. His early style was formed under the influence of Paul Bril, who was in Rome then. After returning from Italy in 1597, the painter joined the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke and became important to the city's artistic community. Later, in the 1600s, he made several trips, including to Prague and Brussels. Jan Brueghel was an extremely versatile artist who performed floral still lifes, original allegorical compositions, images of art galleries, and small landscapes with scenes of everyday peasant life. However, he became well-known for his colourful and detailed landscapes made on copper. The style of Jan Bruegel the Elder was significantly distinct from that of his contemporaries. In his landscapes, he managed to reproduce the harmony of human existence in unity with nature.

Object description

"The Rest on the Forest Edge" is traditionally attributed to the authorship of Jan Brueghel the Elder. Stylistically, the manner of the work, with its clumsily executed figures, does not correspond to the artist's colourful and detailed landscapes. The creation of this work was most likely influenced by Jan Brueghel's landscapes, executed between the late 1590s and 1610s when the master painted many small-format landscapes with peasant scenes. "The Rest on the Forest Edge" was performed according to the typical compositional model formed in the Netherlands in the 16th century. The artist depicted a low horizon line with small figures in the foreground against a panoramic landscape. A group of resting people is gathered near the road in the foreground. A cart with a woman accompanied by a man drives past them. In the distance, two peasants are walking on the road between the trees, followed by horsemen. In the background is depicted a landscape with a foggy valley.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Rest on the Forest Edge

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