Workshop of Hendrick van Balen, 17th century

Workshop of HENDRICK VAN BALEN (Antwerp, ca. 1573 - 1632)
"Allegory of Summer, personified by Ceres".
Oil on copper.
Measurements: 52 x 40 cm; 74 x 60 cm (frame).

With an eloquence and technical refinement typical of the Antwerp School of the early seventeenth century, this "Allegory of Summer, personified by Ceres", is part of the purest tradition of Flemish art cabinets, where mythological and allegorical scenes served as a pretext for a celebration of nature.

In this genre, in which Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Younger were undisputed masters, classical erudition and a meticulous observation of the natural world converged with mastery. The Antwerp workshops produced for a select clientele from all over Europe these complex compositions that intertwined the seasons, the elements and the senses with idyllic landscapes populated by gods and fauna.

In the heart of a lush landscape, under the protective shade of an apple tree laden with fruit, stands the figure of Ceres. The goddess of harvests, whose divinity is proclaimed through the crown of ears of corn that girdles her temples, appears half-naked and wrapped in a sumptuous drapery of lapis lazuli. With a serene gesture, she holds in her right hand the sickle, the instrument of the harvest, while in her other hand she holds a bundle of golden wheat. At his side, a nymph assists him holding the cornucopia, the horn of plenty overflowing with flowers, while lively putti gather garlands, completing this idyllic celebration of summer fertility.

The foreground unfolds as an opulent still life, an offering of summer's gifts: figs, cherries, apples and lemons painted with astonishing precision. In a detail loaded with symbolism, a squirrel feasts on a cherry, an emblem of industriousness and foresight, virtues that are echoed in the background scene, where reapers toil in the wheat fields under the summer sun. The landscape, treated with great delicacy, shows on the right a wild rose bush climbing up the trunk of a tree, while the center is dominated by trees with silvery, vibrant foliage.

The authorship of the work refers to an advanced disciple of Van Balen's circle, whose hand is revealed in the elegance of the gestures and in the pearly flesh of the figures. In fact, the nymph on her back, wrapped in a yellow cloth, is a recurring motif, almost a signature, in the master's repertoire. At the same time, the unmistakable influence of Jan Brueghel the Younger is evident in the precious treatment of the landscape, in the botanical representation of the flowers and in the composition of the still life with the squirrel.

Hendrick van Balen, a leading Flemish painter, was a central figure in this phenomenon. After training with Adam van Noort and being admitted to the guild of St. Luke, his trip to Italy enriched his style with an idealized classicism. He frequently collaborated with the greatest landscape painters of his time, such as Joos de Momper and the Brueghel dynasty, and had the honor of being the first teacher of the legendary Anthony van Dyck, thus consolidating his legacy as one of the pillars of Flemish art of his century.

We find Hendrick van Balen's name recorded as master of the Antwerp painters' guild in 1592. Shortly after this date he must have traveled to Italy, passing through Venice and Rome, as indicated by some indirect sources and, above all, by the evident influences on his art of Annibale Carracci and Palma the Elder. Van Balen was appointed dean of the painters' guild in 1610, and three years later he became dean of the Brotherhood of Romanists in Antwerp. As was common at the time, due to the specialization of painters, this artist often collaborated with contemporaries such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, Joos de Momper or Jan Wildens. His workshop was of great importance, counting among his disciples prominent names such as Anton van Dyck and Frans Snyders. Cabinet painter, specialized in figure compositions, van Valen will expand his production to religious painting from 1615, when he began to make commissions for various churches in Antwerp. By then his work had already evolved from the mannerism of his training to a full baroque marked by the influence of Rubens, as can be seen in the "Holy Trinity" that he painted for the Sint-Jacobskerk. Key to his style is also the Venetian influence, as evidenced by his typical mythological scenes, elegantly twisted female figures. Van Balen's works are currently held in important collections around the world, such as the Prado Museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles.