An exhibition at The Holburne Museum, of international importance, sees a record number of Brueghel works under one roof. Georgette McCready discovers some of the stories behind the paintings
As the outgoing director of the Holburne Museum prepares to leave Bath, art historian Dr Jennifer Scott should be proud of the legacy that she leaves both the museum and for posterity.
The Holburne’s latest exhibition, Bruegel: Defining A Dynasty, opened to a flurry of national press interest and encouraging visitor numbers. On a Monday afternoon when I visited, the gallery was busy with people keen to examine at close hand these works – some 35 of them – gathered in the UK under one roof for the first time.
There is particular interest around one relatively small painting, which depicts a party of ruddy cheeked, sturdy peasants dancing at a country wedding. The musicians are puffing away at bagpipes, people are drinking and laughing and, in the foreground a man with a large belly sports a cheeky codpiece which can still raise a snigger four centuries after it was painted.
The Wedding Dance in the Open Air (1607-14) was one of several Bruegelian works in the Holburne collection, which were all acquired by William Holburne himself in the early 19th century. These include Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s Robbing the Bird’s Nest (c1620) and Visit to a Farmhouse (c1620-30) and Boy Blowing Bubbles (c1640) by David Teniers the Younger, who married into the Bruegel dynasty.
But what wasn’t known until Jennifer Scott and Dr Amy Orrock, who were jointly curating the Bruegel show, had the wedding picture conserved, was that the painting wedding picture – deeply encrusted with obscured by layers of old varnish – was a genuine work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger and not a copy, as had originally been thought.
Still Life With Cheese by the Circle of Jan van Kessel the Elder
But the detective work paid off and the work was expertly conserved by Elizabeth Holford. We can now see, next to the original, an underdrawing which is visible thanks to modern technology. Here, the eye can discern little hooks and ticks drawn by the artist showing where folds of material were to hang. It is fascinating to see the artist’s working.
The confirmation that this is indeed a Brueghel means the Bath museum now holds the largest collection of paintings by Pieter Bruegel and Pieter Bruegel the Younger in the UK. There is much much more to this exhibition than paintings of peasants at work and play – although these are delightful and curious by turn. In an enormous painting filled with people carrying out all kinds of activities, from fishing to peeing out of a window, the viewer is invited to a 16th century version of Where’s Wally? as they match the proverbs with the tableaux before them.
A large Bruegel family tree at the entrance to the exhibition helps us visually work out which Bruegel is which. And, no you’re not wrong, the Flemish surname is spelled two ways. Daddy Bruegel spelled his without an h, while his two sons – just four and one when he died – later added the h to the brand. They were taught to paint and draw by their grandmother Mayken Verhulst, who was a miniaturist painter.
The Bruegels were a family of serious, professional artists. Such was the popularity of Pieter Bruegel the Elder that his work was copied during his lifetime, and ever since. And while the two Pieters created these lively scenes of people, brother Jan made his reputation for paradise-like landscapes and exquisite flower still lifes.
Stand before Jan ‘Velvet’ Brueghel’s riot of colour, A Stoneware Vase of Flowers and the more you look the more you notice. This arrangement, while life-like and intricate in every detail, is built on fantasy. The snowdrops, tulips and peonies – none of these would be in flower at the same time and the artist would hardly have been able to call Interflora for flowers out of season. This work of 1607 is one of the first still life paintings ever recorded.
The curators have cleverly chosen to hang this vase of loveliness alongside two other floral still lifes by Jan’s son and grandson. The second is a basket and vase by Jan Brueghel the Younger, (c1617 – 25) and the third is Flower Study (1671), by Abraham Brueghel. In this last work the painter has taken the tulips and roses to the very brink of dropping their pale pink petals. They are delicately poised between sheer beauty and life and the shadow of becoming overblown and decayed.
While any number of these lovely flower pictures would be a joy to have at home, the series of vivid studies of insects, painted in oils on copper, look almost contemporary. There are four of these small works by Jan van Kessel the Elder. They would have been created as decorative fronts for drawers in a cabinet, which were so fashionable at the time.
The invention of the microscope in the Netherlands saw increased interest in the study of insects and these biological studies reflect that. It has been pointed out, however, that although at first glance we might admire their accuracy, the scales are not always true to life. The dragonfly, for instance, perched on a strawberry is out of proportion to the fruit.
There are so many stories to be learned while studying the paintings. If, like me, you thought a Bruegel painting was merely merry peasants, the sort of picture you’d find on your grandmother’s biscuit tin, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this absorbing exhibition that shows off the considerable talents of five generations.
Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty runs until Sunday 4 June at the Holburne. Entry to the main museum is free, while entry to the exhibition is £10 / £9 concessions, Under 16s free. Dr Amy Orrock has written Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty, £16.95 is on sale at The Holburne shop.
Visit: holburne.org
Main image: Wedding Dance in the Open Air by Pieter Bruegel the Younger
The post Five talented generations: The Brueghel exhibition at The Holburne Museum appeared first on The Bath Magazine.