Circle of Jan Breughel II (Antwerp 1601-1678)
Property of an Italian Noble Family (lots 204-206)
Circle of Jan Breughel II (Antwerp 1601-1678)

The Four Elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air

細節
Circle of Jan Breughel II (Antwerp 1601-1678)
The Four Elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air
oil on canvas
40½ x 58 in. (102.9 x 147.3 cm.)
a set of four (4)
來源
Anonymous sale [The Property of a Nobleman]; Christie's, London, 23 April 1982, lot 16 (£8,640).

榮譽呈獻

Christiaan van Rechteren
Christiaan van Rechteren

查閱狀況報告或聯絡我們查詢更多拍品資料

登入
瀏覽狀況報告

拍品專文

The idea that the world was composed of four elements was first developed in the 5th century B.C. by the Greek philosopher Empedocles and later expanded on by Plato and Aristotle. The human significance of this concept grew over the centuries with the notion that each element governed one of the four humours of the body which in turn related to a temperament. On this basis, fire was associated with desire, water with emotions, earth with stability, and air with thought. The wide variety of engravings of the Four Elements published in the Netherlands in the late 16th century, undoubtedly influenced Jan Breughel the Elder's (1568-1625) adoption of the theme soon after 1600.

Only three surviving series of the elements by Breughel the Elder are known, one of which is now in the Doria Pamphilij, Rome (see K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Ältere, Cologne, 1979, pp. 599-600, nos. 248-251). The subject must have been popular at the time and ultimately provided the inspiration for similar series by the artist's son Jan Breughel the Younger. The present works relate most closely to the set at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Jüngere, Freren, 1984, pp. 357-62, nos. 193-196).

更多來自 <strong>歐洲貴族及私人珍藏 (包括珍罕掛毯)</strong>

查看全部
查看全部