Jan Pieeter Brueghel (1628 Antwerp - 1684 Italy), Still life with roses and tulips on a stone pedestal, 1655-1670

oil, canvas, 79.5 × 57.5 cm
on the loom a sticker: (...) OLING GALLERI.... with the number 1747
Work housed in the archive of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie
(Nederland Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis) in The Hague.
Provenance:
Cooling Galleries Collection, London
Private collection, Poland
"The flower bouquet was the most popular and perhaps the oldest form of flower presentation. We find it already in the paintings and mosaics of the ancients (...) This subject would be exploited, with incredible determination, by the pioneers of sixteenth-century still life based on botanical motifs...The mature form of this subject was given by Jan Brueghel (1568 - 1625) called Velvet. He made this motif an independent artistic genre. (...) Jan Brueghel's floral depictions illustrate the encyclopedic concept of botanical presentation typical of the 2nd half of the 16th century" (Z. Wazbinski, "Adrien Collaert and his florilegium. Dutch sources of Italian sixteenth-century still life", Ars Longa, Warsaw 1998). The painted bouquets depicted well-known flowers, regardless of the time of their flowering. Many times their compositional arrangement excluded the law of gravity and the actual length of the stems of each species. These multifloral compositions are a triumphant apotheosis of flowers, their botanical documentation. It was initiated by Jan Breugel and continued by his descendant Jan Pieter Brueghel in the painting on display. Among the magnificent bouquet, the artist placed the Tulip Rose (Latin: Rosa centifolia) or Tulip (Latin: Tulipa) with remarkable realism. Its mottled coloration was due to the TBV "Tulipbreakingvirus" or ReTBV "Rembrandt Tulip Breaking Virus", which attacked the bulbs causing the unique colors of the mottled petals and their undulating or irregular edges. In the central part and at the top we find a white Coral Calla (Viburnum opulus) with partially woody hard twigs. The small blue flower in the central part is Dyer or Canada Phlox and the showy multi-petaled yellow and red flowers are Asiatic Jaspers (Ranunculus asiaticus). The dynamic red with bifurcated petals is the Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientale) and the white and red painted with great artistic freedom is the Anemone (Anemone) with a stunning number of dark stamens (botanically they can number between 10 and 200). The symbolism of floral still lifes oscillates around the vitality and strength of life and at the same time its transience (depiction of blooming and withering flowers). In addition, the inclusion of tulips, which had just reached the apogee of popularity in the 17th century
in the Netherlands warns against thoughtlessness and irresponsibility. Oriental tulip bulbs were the subject of a lively trade and the object of speculation, thanks to which many achieved incredible wealth - others lost all their possessions. Poppy, due to its sedative properties, symbolizes sleep, as well as weakness in the hour of death, at the same time, through its red color, it can symbolize the passion of Christ. The rose flower, also known as the flower of Venus, is of course love and sexuality and, because of the temporality of human love, vanity. The whole composition evokes associations with Homer's metaphor of human fate:

"Such is the fate of human families as the fate of perishable leaves -.
some on the ground the wind sheds their leaves, and others give out
a blooming forest when the spring season approaches.
It is the same with the family of man: one flourishes and the other falls."
Homer (Iliad, Song VI)