Tag Archives: Flemish Paintings

BOOK REVIEW: The Orléans Collection

The Orléans Collection

Edited by Vanessa I. Schmid

D Giles Limited in association with the New Orleans Museum of Art

£44.95

ISBN 978-1-911282-28-0

9781911282280_FC

 

I remember when visiting Castle Howard in Yorkshire as a child that one of the rooms was then known as the Orléans Room marking the fact that the 5th Earl of Carlisle was part of a syndicate that acquired a portion of the already legendary Orléans Collection.

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1674– 1723) had started forming the collection in the second decade of the 18th century when he became Regent of France, following Louis XIV’s death. It was a way of expressing his connoisseurship and taste and included artists such as Raphael, Titian, Veronese, Correggio, Poussin, Rubens, and Rembrandt.

This informative volume looks not only at the component parts of the collection but also at the contemporary Paris art market.  The display of the paintings within the Palais Royale and their overall impact on the collectors and tastes of the day are considered too.

It is a real celebration of early 18th century taste and style and while one can be truly grateful that many pictures may still be seen in museums and galleries today one could be tempted to regret that the collection is no longer one single entity. The book however gives us the chance to relive that experience in a vibrant and enjoyable way.

 

gilesltd.com

Meet the Breugels!

Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty, The Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street, Bath BA2, until 4th June 2017

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Wedding Dance in the Open Air, Oil on panel, 36.6 x 49cm, ©Holburne Museum. Photography by Dominic Brown

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Wedding Dance in the Open Air,
Oil on panel, 36.6 x 49cm,
©Holburne Museum. Photography by Dominic Brown

This is a very special show for it reveals the Holburne’s Wedding Dance in the Open Air, following conservation and technical examination, to be by Pieter Brueghel the Younger and not as previously thought a work by a follower. Congratulations are due to their then Director Jennifer Scott (who is now Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery) who discovered it in the Museum’s store room and who co-curated this exhibition with Dr Amy Orrock.

Jan Brueghel the Elder, A Stoneware Vase of Flowers, c. 1607–1608, oil on panel, 56 × 89.5 cm, © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridg

Jan Brueghel the Elder, A Stoneware Vase of Flowers, c. 1607–1608,
oil on panel, 56 × 89.5 cm,
© The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Visitors when they enter the exhibition can see a Bruegel family tree and the exhibition reveals the work of the family across four generations through thirty-five pictures drawn from the National Gallery, the Royal Collection Trust, the National Trust, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Ashmolean Museum and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts.  The Holburne Museum with its three works by Pieter Brueghel the Younger holds the largest collection of his paintings in the UK.

Still Life with Cheese, circle of Jan Van Kessel II, c. 1650 Oil on copper, 16.5 x 20.3cm, © Holburne Museum

Still Life with Cheese, circle of Jan Van Kessel II, c. 1650
Oil on copper, 16.5 x 20.3cm,
© Holburne Museum

The exhibition starts with the Adoration of the Kings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (note he did not spell his name with an h) which hangs alongside a similarly entitled work by his father-in-law Pieter Coecke van Aelst. It makes an interesting comparison. Bruegel’s sons Pieter and Jan and their descendants such as Jan van Kessel the Elder or David Teniers the Younger who married into the family are eloquently represented.

David Teniers the Younger, Boy Blowing Bubbles, c.1640, Oil on panel, 22 x 22cm, © Holburne Museum

David Teniers the Younger, Boy Blowing Bubbles, c.1640,
Oil on panel, 22 x 22cm,
© Holburne Museum

It is interesting to see how Pieter and Jan produced copies of their father’s compositions and variations of them.  Jan could arguably be said to be the first to have depicted floral studies in a style which continues to this day. This is an exhibition that celebrates Flemish painting and this prolific family whose works have not lost their appeal over the centuries.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Visit to a Farmhouse, c.1620-30, Oil on panel, 36.5 x 49.4cm, © Holburne Museum. Photograph by Dan Brown

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Visit to a Farmhouse, c.1620-30,
Oil on panel, 36.5 x 49.4cm,
© Holburne Museum. Photograph by Dan Brown

http://www.holburne.org

Frans Pourbus the Younger

The Master of Truth and Expression: Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569 – 1622), The Weiss Gallery, 59 Jermyn Street, London SW1, until 25th February 2016

Frans Pourbus the Younger, (1569 – 1622) Caterine van Damme (1541 – 1622), at the age of fifty

Frans Pourbus the Younger, (1569 – 1622)
Caterine van Damme (1541 – 1622), at the age of fifty

There is still some time to see this group of portraits by Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622) which is the largest group assembled outside of those in the Medici Collection which are displayed in the Uffizzi Gallery and the Pitti Palace.

Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569 – 1622) Louis XIII, King of France (1601 - 1643), with the Sash and Badge of the Order of Saint Esprit

Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569 – 1622)
Louis XIII, King of France (1601 – 1643), with the Sash and Badge of the Order of Saint Esprit

Gallery owner Mark Weiss says that he is “very proud to have assembled such a distinguished group of portraits by one artist, unparalleled in London. I am sure it will generate great interest amongst both museums and collectors alike. These paintings demonstrate the significance of Pourbus’ artistic legacy, and contribute to the continuing reinstatement of this great Master in the canon of 17th-century portraiture.”

Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569 – 1622) An Unknown Man, aged fifty-six

Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569 – 1622)
An Unknown Man, aged fifty-six

http://www.weissgallery.com