Abraham Brueghel

Essay:

Abraham Brueghel was born in Antwerp as the second son of Jan Brueghel the Younger. He was a pupil of his father and very early on must have showed a precocious talent, for his father recorded the sale of a painting by his son (dated 1646), when Abraham was only fifteen. Before he was eighteen, Abraham was sent to Italy where he was to remain for the rest of his life. He entered the service of Prince Antonio Ruffio in Sicily and in 1659 he settled in Rome. He married there in 1660. Soon after 1671, Abraham Brueghel is recorded as living in Naples and it is probable that he died there.

During the early stages of his career, Abraham Brueghel painted in the style of his father, but when he arrived in Italy, he immediately turned to painting garlands in the manner of Daniel Seghers and worked in collaboration with Carlo Maratta and Luca Giordano amongst other Italian figure painters. However, Abraham Brueghel is best known for his large fruit and flower compositions on canvas which he completed in the last thirty years of his life. His characteristically dramatic compositions were reinforced by his spirited brushwork as well as the dark backgrounds and the brightly lit fruit and flowers. As a result of his years in Rome his paintings are infused with the drama of the Italian Baroque.

Provenance:

Private Collection, Southern Germany