JAN BRUEGHEL THE ELDER (BRUSSELS 1568-1625 ANTWERP)

This verdant scene is an early work by Jan Brueghel the Elder, probably painted just after a group of landscapes the artist completed around 1593, during his stay in Italy. Like his other early forest scenes, the figures are likely inspired by the work of Jan’s father, Pieter Brueghel the Elder (circa 1526/30-1569).

As with most of Jan’s earliest works, the present is executed on copper, allowing the artist to render the elements with great precision. In particular, Ertz points to the delicacy of the birds in the branches and the clusters of leaves (op. cit., p. 202). The short, staccato brushwork in the foliage is typical of Jan's works from this period, which he would revise later in his work to be defined by longer brushstrokes. With the thick forest confining much of the activity to the foreground, the vantage point allows an intriguing glimpse deeper into the woodland; trees act as repoussoir devices to draw the viewer’s eye inward, where hunters chase down deer, and to a clearing beyond, where others flee, as if aware of the impending pursuit.