(Antwerp 1601–1678)
Adam and Eve in Paradise,
oil on panel, 68 x 51 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Christie’s, Paris, 20th June 2007, lot 25;
Belgian noble collection

We are grateful to Klaus Ertz, who examined the present painting in the original, for confirming its authenticity. A certificate is available (13th August 2016).

Klaus Ertz about the present painting: “The painting can be said to have survived in excellent condition. Jan Brueghel the Younger’s characteristic colours – brown and green for the foreground and middle ground and blue for the background – have been applied in the impasto technique and, being of superior quality, give a brilliant and fresh impression. Besides floral arrangements, the painter’s standard repertoire comprised Christian subject matter from the Old and New Testaments. Like no other artist of his time, he managed to emulate the painterly excellence of his father and role model, Jan Brueghel the Elder. While he remained entirely loyal to his father’s legacy from the time he took over his studio in 1625 to the mid-1630s, he subsequently began to pursue an autonomous and independent approach. The painting to be assessed, however, is still entirely in the father’s tradition.”

Ertz dates the present painting into the mid-1630s.