Atelier of Jan Brueghel the Younger, ca. 1650

Flemish school, ca. 1650. Workshop of JAN BRUEGHEL THE YOUNG (Antwerp, Belgium, 1601 - 1678).
"Allegory of fire" or "Venus at Vulcan's forge ordering weapons for Aeneas".
Oil on oak panel. Cradled.
In good state of preservation.
Measurements: 45 x 36 cm; 66 x 59 cm (frame).

The work in bidding can be read in two different ways. On the one hand, it could be an allegory of the element of fire, personified by Vulcan, the Roman god of forging, and Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, often associated with heat and passion. Cupid, son of Venus, is also present, suggesting the connection between love, beauty and the transforming power of fire; on the other hand, it could be the moment when Venus, concerned for the safety of her son Aeneas (who is engaged in a brutal war in Latium, Italy) goes to the forge of her husband Vulcan. There, she begs and seduces him to forge divine armor and weapons for Aeneas. Vulcan puts his Cyclops and assistants to work to create a shield and panoply (complete set of weapons and armor) of unparalleled beauty and strength.

Formally the work is related to the workshop of Jan Brueghel the Younger, a Flemish painter who specialized in still life and flower painting, although he also worked in landscape, mythological and allegorical scenes. He was an independent artist of great talent, who has sometimes been undervalued in historiography. The eldest son of Jan Brueghel de Velours, and grandson of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, he probably trained in his father's workshop, and it was also his father who encouraged him to travel to Milan in 1622, to enter the service of Cardinal Frederick Borromeo, from Milan he traveled to Malta and Sicily and in 1625, after receiving the news of his father's death, he returned to Antwerp to take charge of his workshop. That same year he is registered as a master in the Guild of Painters of St. Luke. During these years he sold the paintings left by his father, and successfully completed those he had left unfinished. He also produced a number of small format paintings following his father's style, repeating his father's still lifes, flower garlands, landscapes and allegories. However, he did not do so as a mere copyist, but incorporated novelties and knew how to give his work a particular personal accent.Among his most prominent commissioners we find the French court, which commissioned him a "Cycle of Adam" (1630-31) and the Austrian court, for which he worked in 1651, after which he returned to Antwerp in 1657, where he resided until his death. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Metropolitan in New York, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and other museums around the world.