(Brussels 1568–1625 Antwerp)
A scene of Hell,
oil on copper, 26.5 x 36 cm, framed

Provenance:
Galerie Gombert, Paris (2001);
Private European collection

Literature:
K. Ertz, C. Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Lingen 2008–10, p. 665, no. 324, ill. p. 666

In a written certificate from 2001, Klaus Ertz already endorsed the present painting as an autograph work by Jan Brueghel I. He writes: ‘The painting can be said to be in very good condition. The glazes typical of Jan Brueghel the Elder, composed of overlapping transparent paint layers, have perfectly survived, giving the depiction its peculiar three-dimensional look and feel. His unmistakable, jewel-like colours glow with an intensity I only know from the master’s autograph originals, regardless of the fact that the scene is set in hell and thus in darkness. The pointed brush has accurately traced the most minute details.’

Ertz on the subject matter: ‘Nude figures with contorted limbs appear at the lower left margin, either tortured by horrifying ghosts and demons or depicted lying or kneeling in large steel tubs while being roasted over big fires. Elegantly dressed personalities are guided to the scene from the right by a number of spooky creatures. The landscape of hell rises on the left, terminating in a vaguely outlined house in which a man is consumed by the flames of a fire discernible at the bottom. Countless naked figures are thrown into the valley of hell from a cliff extending on the right-hand side of the house. Above appears a large red fire in front of which one can see huge wheels of torture and gallows. Further figures in the nude and ghastly creatures are shown scattered across the hill, which is lit by a bright fire. In the right background two conspicuously outlined rocks are set off against a brightly illuminated backdrop, marking what seems to be the gate of hell. Between them flows a streamlet for which nude figures are headed. In the upper section of the picture, further spooky creatures hover in the air along the entire width of the composition […]. Between 1592 and 1594, Jan is documented to have worked in Rome. In those years, he painted the Scene of Hell now in the Ambrosiana in Milan, an autograph replica.’

To support his attribution to Jan Brueghel the Elder, Ertz refers to the master’s following works:

(1) A scene of Hell (Ambrosiana, Milan, 1594/96);
(2) Orpheus singing for Pluto and Proserpina (Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, signed and dated: BRVEGHEL 1594);
(3) Aeneas carrying his father Anchises from the burning town of Troy (Alte Pinakothek, Munich, circa 1595);
(4) Juno in the Underworld (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, signed and dated: BRVEGHEL 159(6?);
(5) Lot and his daughters outside Sodom (Alte Pinakothek, Munich, signed lower left: BRVEGHEL, circa 1595)

Ertz again: ‘Both these comparable paintings and the present composition belong to the genre of so-called “hell landscapes”. All these pictures are viewed from a raised vantage point, which is typical of their time of execution before or around 1600. The spectator observes what happens in the picture as if standing on an elevated stage. The Mannerist handling of light and the figure type, which can only be encountered in the artist’s early period, suggest a date of execution around 1595. The horizontal view-point as the principal form of the seventeenth century is still entirely neglected. What speaks in favour of Jan Brueghel the Elder’s authorship is the overall chromatic impression, one of the most important criteria in the stylistic assessment of Jan’s compositions. Like most depictions of hells and hermitages, the copper panel to be assessed here likewise dates from Jan Brueghel the Elder’s Italian stay. In the years between 1592 and 1594, Jan closely collaborated with his painter friend Paul Bril, with whom he seems to have developed the technique of a delicate, miniature-like manner of painting on thick copper plates. Around 1600, neither of the two masters was outclassed when it came to the production of such small-sized landscapes depicting a whole cosmos in spite of the small format. As we do not know exactly when Jan Brueghel the Elder left Rome for Milan, it must remain open whether the present Scene of Hell, painted around 1595, was done when the artist was still in Rome or already in Milan, where he is known to have entered the service of Cardinal Federico Borromeo in 1596.’