BRUEGHEL I, Jan (Brussels, 1568 – Antwerp, 1625)
Jan Brueghel the Elder—also known as Jan Brueghel I or Jan Brueghel de Velours—was born in Brussels in 1568, into one of the most famous dynasties of painters in history. Jan did not limit himself, like his brother Pieter Brueghel the Younger, four years his elder, to the imitation of the style of his father, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the famous painter of landscape and of country life scenes. On the contrary, he looked for his own meticulous and refined style. His father died the year he was born but, in agreement with Carel van Mander (1604), Jan studied oil painting with Pieter Goetkindt. At the age of twenty-one he travelled to Italy to complete his training. He probably went through Cologne, where his sister lived, and then stayed in Naples for a period in 1590. His stay in Rome in 1592 and 1594 has been documented. The following year he moved to Milan, where he stayed in the house of Cardinal Federico Borromeo, with whom he remained close friends until his death. During those years Jan painted primarily landscapes from a bird’s-eye view, with Biblical or mythological references, in the tradition of Joachim Patinir, Herri met de Bles and Cornelis van Dalem.
In 1596 Jan took up residence in Antwerp, and he joined the painters’ guild of Saint Luke the following year. In 1599 he married Isabella de Jode, and in 1601 his son Jan Brueghel the Younger, who would also become a painter, was born. That same year he was awarded the title of citizen of Antwerp, and in 1602 he was appointed dean of the city’s guild of painters. After the death of his wife in 1603, probably as a result of the birth of their daughter Paschasia, in 1605 Jan Brueghel married Katharina van Mariënburg, with whom he had eight children. In 1604 he travelled to Prague and in 1606 spent some time in Nuremberg. During those years his art evolved towards a type of landscape painting of great meticulousness in the depiction of figures and elements, but where the different planes are more integrated, and the composition is more tranquil. He also painted his first allegories and bouquets, sometimes including flowers from different seasons, but always represented in great detail.
Towards 1606 Jan Brueghel was appointed painter at the court of Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia, an office he held until his death. There, he met the most important painters of his time, such as Peter Paul Rubens and Hendrik van Balen. In 1613 he travelled with them across Northern Holland on an official mission. In 1618, on the occasion of the archduke’s visit to Antwerp, the city’s magistrates commissioned the twelve best painters to produce two works on the Allegory of the Senses, involving artists such as Rubens, Van Balen, Franz Snyders, Joos de Momper the Younger, Frans Francken the Younger and Sebastian Vrancx, all of them under the direction of Jan Brueghel. Such collaborations were not limited to this particular occasion, and works painted by Jan Brueghel together with Joos de Momper the Younger are particularly frequent. Among Jan Brueghel’s followers, the name which stands out is that of Daniel Seghers.
Jan Brueghel died in Antwerp on 13 January 1625, the victim of a cholera epidemic that also took the lives of three of his children.
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