A garland of flowers - Jan Peter Brueghel (1628 - 1664/1684)

JAN PETER BRUEGEL
1628 - 1664/1684
“A garland with flowers and blue ribbons”
Oil on copper
We’d like to thank dr. Jan de Maere for his advice, a written certificate is available.
Dimensions 55 x 73 cm, 67 x 84 cm (framed)


THE ARTIST
Jan Pieter Brueghel (also Jan Peeter Brueghel), a descendant of the celebrated Brueghel family of painters, was baptized in Antwerp on 29 August 1628. He specialized in flower still lifes and garland paintings, continuing the legacy of his grandfather Jan Brueghel the Elder while blending it with the refined floral style of Jan Davidsz. de Heem.
He worked in Antwerp, Liège, Paris, and Italy, and though relatively few signed works survive, his oeuvre demonstrates a remarkable technical sensitivity and compositional harmony. Paintings signed “J. P. Brueghel” have provided a basis for attributions of other works previously ascribed to contemporaries such as Daniel Seghers, Jan Philip van Thielen, and Jan van Kessel the Elder.

THE ARTWORK

“A garland with flowers and blue ribbons” exemplifies Jan Pieter Brueghel’s mastery of illusionistic floral arrangements, combining botanical precision with an awareness of symbolic and vanitas undertones. The artist composed his bouquets from flowers blooming in different seasons, creating an idealized arrangement rather than a naturalistic one.
Against a dark background, the blossoms emerge with vivid clarity—roses, tulips, and peonies arranged in a cascading rhythm of reds, whites, and ochres. The soft interplay of light enhances both the tactile quality of petals and the overall sense of depth, recalling the influence of Jan Brueghel the Elder and de Heem.
While these compositions can be read as meditations on transience and beauty, their primary aim was to demonstrate artistic virtuosity—transforming fragile, ephemeral flowers into enduring painterly form.