Bunches of Grapes, Pomegranates and Figs in a Landscape

Abraham Brueghel (Antwerp 1631 - Naples 1697)

Abraham Brueghel, a still life painter active chiefly in Rome and Naples, was born in Antwerp, the second son of Jan Brueghel II (see biography under SK-A-3027) and Anna Maria Janssens, and baptized on 28 November 1631.²²F.J. van den Branden, Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool, 3 vols., Antwerp 1883, I, p. 457, note 2. He was presumably trained by his father, but no record of his activity in his native city has been found.³³J. Denucé, Briefen und Dokumente in Bezug auf Jan Bruegel I und II, Antwerp 1934, p. 158, rejected Vaes’s reading of an entry in Jan Brueghel II’s daybook (M. Vaes, ‘Le journal de Jan Brueghel II’, Bulletin de l’Institut Historique Belge de Rome 6 (1926), pp. 163-222, esp. p. 219), which had been interpreted as Abraham Brueghel’s execution of a still life in 1646. Bodart (D. Bodart, Les peintres des Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège à Rome au XVIIème siècle, 2 vols., Brussels/Rome 1970, I, p. 483) and later authors, e.g. Laureati (in F. Porzio (ed.), La natura morta in Italia, 2 vols., Milan 1989, I, p. 788) and Trezzani (in G. Bocchi and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma: Artisti stranieri, 1630-1750, Viadana (2004), p. 167), wrongly state that the artist was enrolled in the Antwerp guild of St Luke in 1655. He is next documented as living in Rome in 1659,⁴⁴G.J. Hoogewerff, Nederlandsche kunstenaars te Rome (1600-1725). Uittreksels uit de parochiale archieven, The Hague 1942, p. 44. but he may by then have been in Italy for over ten years, most likely in Sicily,⁵⁵An inventory, finalized in 1649, of the contents of the gallery owned by Don Antonio Ruffo, Messina, listed eight still lifes identified in a later Ruffo inventory as by Abraham Brueghel, see V. Ruffo, ‘Galleria Ruffo nel secolo XVII in Messina’, Bolletino d’Arte 10 (1916), pp. 31, 37, 314. Hairs (M.-L. Hairs, Les peintres flamands de fleurs au XVIIe siècle, Doornik 1998, p. 258) noted an inscription written in Italian on the reverse of a still life, claiming that the painting was by Brueghel and painted when he was eighteen (i.e. in 1649). perhaps taking advantage of contacts his father had made as a young man.⁶⁶M. Vaes, ‘Le journal de Jan Brueghel II’, Bulletin de l’Institut Historique Belge de Rome 6 (1926), pp. 163-222, pp. 175, 177-78. Brueghel is subsequently recorded in Rome until 1675,⁷⁷G.J. Hoogewerff, Nederlandsche kunstenaars te Rome (1600-1725). Uittreksels uit de parochiale archieven, The Hague 1942, pp. 44, 45, 47, 147, 148, 151, for the artist’s listing in the Libri Status Animarum for 1659, 1661, 1665, 1671, 1672, 1674; children were baptized for instance in 1667 and 1670 (ibid., p. 187); see also under note 10. marrying by 1668,⁸⁸His wife and three-year-old son are listed in the return for 1671, G.J. Hoogewerff, Nederlandsche kunstenaars te Rome (1600-1725). Uittreksels uit de parochiale archieven, The Hague 1942, p. 147. and becoming a member of the Accademia di San Luca in 1670⁹⁹G.J. Hoogewerff, Bescheiden in Italië omtrent Nederlandsche kunstenaars en geleerden, 2 vols., The Hague 1913, I, pp. 70-71. and of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi del Pantheon in 1671.¹⁰¹⁰Laureati in F. Porzio (ed.), La natura morta in Italia, 2 vols., Milan 1989, I, p. 788. He was nicknamed ‘Rhijngraf’ by the Bentveughels, the society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome.¹¹¹¹G.J. Hoogewerff, De Bentvueghels, The Hague 1952, p. 115; Brueghel was a signatory to the letter admitting Abraham Genoels to the schildersbent on 3 January 1675, which is the last recorded date of his presence in Rome. During his Roman sojourn, Brueghel may have visited Messina on perhaps two occasions, on one of which he also visited Naples,¹²¹²Ruffo (V. Ruffo, ‘Galleria Ruffo nel secolo XVII in Messina’, Bolletino d’Arte 10 (1916), p. 237) gives the dates 1663-64 and 1667-68; from a letter referred to by Trezzani (in G. Bocchi and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma: Artisti stranieri, 1630-1750, Viadana (2004), p. 118) written from Naples on 26 January 1664 can be inferred a visit by Brueghel to Naples which would corroborate the first of these dates, as Naples would have been an obvious staging post for Sicily. where he had settled by June 1675 when a son was born to him there.¹³¹³D. Bodart, Les peintres des Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège à Rome au XVIIème siècle, 2 vols., Brussels/Rome 1970, I, p. 415, note 1. His most notable commission in Naples came from Luca Giordano (1634-1705), the leading artist in the city, to participate in the decorations for Corpus Domini in 1684.¹⁴¹⁴Trezzani in G. Bocchi and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma: Artisti stranieri, 1630-1750, Viadana (2004), p. 144. While Laureati¹⁵¹⁵Laureati in F. Porzio (ed.), La natura morta in Italia, 2 vols., Milan 1989, I, p. 788. points to Brueghel’s prominence as a still-life painter in Rome – and his correspondence with the important Messinese maecenas Don Antonio Ruffo (1610-1678) well illustrates his activity there¹⁶¹⁶V. Ruffo, ‘Galleria Ruffo nel secolo XVII in Messina’, Bolletino d’Arte 10 (1916), pp. 173-88. – she indicates a decline in his artistic activity during his years in Naples. However, several Neapolitan collectors of his work are recorded¹⁷¹⁷Trezzani in G. Bocchi and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma: Artisti stranieri, 1630-1750, Viadana (2004), pp. 135, 144. and the biographer of Neapolitan painters, Bernardo de Dominici (1683-c. 1754), admired him.¹⁸¹⁸B. de Dominici, Vite de’ Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti Napoletani, (1840-46), 2 vols., eds. F. Sricchia Santoro and A. Zezza, Naples 2008), I, pp. 550-52.

The 1684 decorations were made in collaboration with Paolo de Matteis (1662-1728) and the still-life painter Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo (1629-1693); earlier in Rome, Brueghel had often collaborated with figure painters, for instance, Giacinto Brandi (1621-1691), Guglielmo Cortese (1628-1679), Giovanni Battista Gaulli (1639-1704) and Carlo Maratta (1625-1713).¹⁹¹⁹Seelig in Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich/Leipzig 1983-, XIV, p. 482. A still life with figures by Maratta was already in the prestigious Anthoine collection in Antwerp by 1691,²⁰²⁰E. Duverger, Fontes historiae Artis Neerlandicae Bronnen voor de Kunstgeschiedenis van de Nederlanden: Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Antwerpse kunstinventarissen uit de zeventiende eeuw, 13 vols., Brussels 1984-2004, XII, p. 94, no. 64. six years before the artist’s death in Naples on 21 November 1697.²¹²¹U. Prota-Giurleo, Pittori Napoletani del Seicento, Naples (1953), p. 19.

REFERENCES
B. de Dominici, Vite de’ Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti Napoletani, [1840-46], 2 vols., eds. F. Sricchia Santoro and A. Zezza, Naples 2008; V. Ruffo, ‘Galleria Ruffo nel secolo XVII in Messina’, Bolletino d’Arte 10 (1916); U. Prota-Giurleo, Pittori Napoletani del Seicento, Naples [1953]; Laureati in F. Porzio (ed.), La natura morta in Italia, 2 vols., Milan 1989; G. Bocchi and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma: Artisti stranieri, 1630-1750, Viadana [2004]