Jan Brueghel the Younger(Antwerp 1601 – 1678 Antwerp)

How to cite
Bakker, Piet. “Jan Brueghel the Younger” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited byArthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artists/jan-brueghel-the-younger/(archived June 2020).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

Jan Brueghel the Younger belonged to the third generation of a famous dynasty of painters. He was baptizedin the St George Church in Antwerp on 13 September 1601. His parents were Jan Brueghel the Elder(1568–1625), also known as “Velvet Brueghel,” and Isabella de Jode, daughter of the engraver Gerard deJode.[1] His father was a famous and exceptionally successful painter who purchased a splendid house on theLange Nieuwestraat in 1604. By that time, though, Jan had lost his mother, who had died the previous year.
Soon thereafter his father took a second wife, Katharina van Marienberghe (d. 1627). Among the couple’schildren was Ambrosius Brueghel (1617–75), who would also become a painter, and Anna Brueghel(1620–56), the future wife of the famous artist David Teniers the Younger (1610–90). Jan Brueghel theYounger would father Jan Pieter (1628–78) and Abraham Brueghel (1631–97), who constituted the fourth
generation of this remarkable family of painters.
Given his background it is hardly surprising that Brueghel became a painter. He received his first lessons fromhis father at the age of ten. That his training went well is proven by a letter his father wrote to CardinalFederico Borromeo (1564–1631) in 1616 stating his intention of sending his son to Italy.[2] This trip, however,
was repeatedly postponed. Brueghel did not leave until 7 May 1622 and arrived in Milan at the end of June toserve under Borromeo. He was supposed to travel from Milan to Rome, but in Genoa he met two brothersfrom Antwerp, Lucas (1591-1661) and the artist Cornelis de Wael (1592–1667), who proposed that he work forthem, an offer Brueghel accepted entirely against the wishes of his father. In Genoa he also met Anthony vanDyck (1599–1641), who convinced him to travel to Sicily. Palermo was a disappointment, so he set sail forMalta. In April 1624 he was already back in Sicily, where he met up again with Van Dyck. Upon learning of hisfather’s death the following year, he returned to Antwerp via Paris. After his arrival in August 1625 he joined© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Jan Brueghel the Younger
Page 2 of 3

the Guild of Saint Luke and took over his father’s workshop. He also became a member of De Violieren, achamber of rhetoric.
A year later, on 5 July 1626, Brueghel married Anna Maria Janssens (1605–68) in the Cathedral of Our Ladyin Antwerp. Her father was the famous history painter Abraham Janssens (1575–1632). Brueghel met withsuccess and was generally considered an important artist. In 1632 “at least 1000 people”[3] came to his
workshop to admire The Five Senses, and even Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) did not consider it beneathhim to paint the allegorical and religious figures in Brueghel’s floral painting, a task his father-in-law, AbrahamJanssens, also regularly performed.[4] Demand for his work reached a peak in the years after his marriage. His
workshop grew steadily with many pupils and assistants, who made numerous copies of paintings byBrueghel’sfather, grandfather, and even Brueghel himself, some of which were sold abroad. As of 1628
regular shipments of these copies—and other work bought by Brueghel —found their way to Seville in Spain,
where his cousin Chrysostoom van Immerseel headed a sizeable trading firm.[5]Brueghel’s success was likely one of the reasons why he was appointed dean of the painters’ guild in 1630
and 1631. However, the tide turned from 1632 to 1634, and he encountered financial difficulties. Payment forthe paintings shipped to Seville was handled by Bernard Vermeurs, Van Immerseel’s agent in Antwerp. Fromletters by Brueghel to Van Immerseel it appears that this Vermeurs, for whom Brueghel worked exclusively foreighteen months, failed to honor their agreement. Vermeurs, in turn, complained about Brueghel to VanImmerseel and “wished to be rid of the man.”[6] This dispute became so heated that Vermeurs stormed into
Brueghel’s home, took some of his stock and then sold it at auction. Brueghel’s subsequent appeal to Van
Immerseel seems to have convinced him to pay up, whereby Brueghel could meet his financial obligations.
Even though this particular incident was resolved, it nevertheless marked the beginning of the end of
Brueghel’s workshop. After 1630 demand for his father’s work diminished, in part because the asking prices
were deemed to be too high.[7] In that year he still managed to sell for 600 guilders “four works, being thehistory of the Book of Genesis, or the life of Adam” to a nobleman of the French court.[8] Notwithstanding thisprofit, he came to depend more and more on the production of inexpensive copies of his father’s work andthus had to contend with less affluent clientele. He tried to counter these setbacks by developing a more
personal style, however his talent did not warrant his high asking prices. The emphasis in his workshop
increasingly shifted to the art trade and tapestry designs.[9] Through the offices of his brother-in-law DavidTeniers the Younger (1610–90), court painter to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614–62) as of 1647, he wasgranted a commission from the Brussels court in 1651. Brueghel subsequently moved to Paris, but was backin Antwerp in 1657. From then on he shuttled between the two cities, but his Antwerp workshop was nevermore than a shadow of what it had been in its heyday.

- Piet Bakker, 2017

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Jan Brueghel the YoungerPage 3 of 3Endnotes

1. For more on this artist, see the biography of Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564/65 –1637/38)
in this catalogue.
2. Cardinal Federico Borromeo was a great art lover and patron of Jan Brueghel the Elder.
3. “Nochthans duysent menschen.” The quote is from a letter by Jan Brueghel to his cousin
Chrisostoom van Immerseel in Seville. Jean Denucé, Brieven en documenten betreffend JanBreughel I en II (Antwerp, 1934), 83.
4. Other painters with whom he collaborated, as can be deduced from the journal he kept from1625 to 1651, include Joos de Momper (1564–1635), Lucas de Wael (1591–1661), Hendrickvan Balen (ca. 1573–1632), Theodoor van Thulden (1606–69), Peter Gijsels (1621–90), Janvan Kessel the Elder (1626–79), Gonzales Coques (1614/18–84), Sebastiaen Franckx(1573–1647), David Teniers the Younger, Elias Voet, Abraham van Diepenbeeck(1596–1675), and Frans Wouters (1612–59). Jean Denucé, Brieven en documenten
betreffend Jan Breughel I en II (Antwerp, 1934), 8, 139–60.
5. Jean Denucé, Brieven en documenten betreffend Jan Breughel I en II (Antwerp, 1934), 7–8.
6. “Wenste van den man ontslagen waer.” Jean Denucé, Brieven en documenten betreffend JanBreughel I en II (Antwerp, 1934), 86.
7. For the dwindling demand for Brueghel copies in the 1630s, see the biography of Pieter
Brueghel the Younger in this catalogue.
8. “4stuxkens,

synde

deHistorie

van

het

Boek

Genesis,oftAdamsleven.”

Jean Denucé, Brieven en documenten betreffend Jan Breughel I en II (Antwerp, 1934), 154.
9. Ebeltije

Hartkamp-Jonxis

andHillieSmit,

European

Tapestries

intheRijksmuseum (Amsterdam, 2004), 139–41.

LiteratureDenucé, Jean. Brieven en documenten betreffend Jan Breughel I en II. Antwerp, 1934.
Hartkamp-Jonxis,Ebeltije,andHillie

Smit.

EuropeanTapestries

intheRijksmuseum. Amsterdam, 2004.

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