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Lot Essay
These two monumental allegorical depictions of Summer and Autumn are a masterful example of Vrancx’s early work. The iconography of the Four Seasons derives from the medieval manuscript tradition, in particular from Books of Hours, which were introduced by a calendar listing the relevant liturgical feasts for each month, and were illustrated by images depicting the various activities or labours associated with that time of year, such as the corn harvest depicted with such delightful clarity in Summer. However, Vrancx here draws equally on his Italian sojourn of circa 1596-1601. Rather than the more usual imagined views over the rolling Flemish countryside that Vrancx used in later works, such as the set of four seasons of circa 1625 (sold in these Rooms 9 July 2015, lot 29), the present paintings incorporate views of the Roman forum. The background of Autumn looks west down the Via Sacra towards the Arch of Septimius Severus, while Summer shows Rome in the far distance, with the dome of Saint Peter’s highlighted against the dusky blue of the hot Southern sky.
It is highly likely that the works were commissioned during the artist’s time in Rome, as Autumn features the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, which hang prominently on the wall beneath the central tower. Aldobrandini, nephew to Pope Clemente VIII, was an important patron of the arts, whose collection included Bellini and Titian’s Feast of the Gods (Washington, National Gallery of Art) and Titian’s Bacchanal of the Andrians (Madrid, Prado), which he acquired from the d’Este collection after the annexation of Ferrara into the Papal States in 1598. The Cardinal also commissioned works from the great contemporary Roman artists, such as Annibale Carracci, who executed a series of frescos for his Palazzo in Rome, now the renowned Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. The present works may well have hung alongside these great works in Aldobrandini’s gallery.
The iconography of the months and the seasons as an independent category of painting was established in Flanders by Pieter Bruegel the Elder with his seminal cycle of the Months painted for the home of his patron Nicolaes Jongelinck (now Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; New York, Metropolitan Museum; and Prague, Lobkowicz collection). In the present paintings, Vrancx’s own skill as a narrative painter, often, as in this case, revealing a predilection for light-hearted detail, can be seen to have developed from the Brueghelian tradition, as well as the incorporating the popular style of Paul Bril, who was well established in Rome by the time of Vrancx’s arrival.
It is highly likely that the works were commissioned during the artist’s time in Rome, as Autumn features the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, which hang prominently on the wall beneath the central tower. Aldobrandini, nephew to Pope Clemente VIII, was an important patron of the arts, whose collection included Bellini and Titian’s Feast of the Gods (Washington, National Gallery of Art) and Titian’s Bacchanal of the Andrians (Madrid, Prado), which he acquired from the d’Este collection after the annexation of Ferrara into the Papal States in 1598. The Cardinal also commissioned works from the great contemporary Roman artists, such as Annibale Carracci, who executed a series of frescos for his Palazzo in Rome, now the renowned Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. The present works may well have hung alongside these great works in Aldobrandini’s gallery.
The iconography of the months and the seasons as an independent category of painting was established in Flanders by Pieter Bruegel the Elder with his seminal cycle of the Months painted for the home of his patron Nicolaes Jongelinck (now Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; New York, Metropolitan Museum; and Prague, Lobkowicz collection). In the present paintings, Vrancx’s own skill as a narrative painter, often, as in this case, revealing a predilection for light-hearted detail, can be seen to have developed from the Brueghelian tradition, as well as the incorporating the popular style of Paul Bril, who was well established in Rome by the time of Vrancx’s arrival.