Abraham Brueghel (Antwerp 1631–1690 Naples) and Luigi Garzi (Pistoia 1638–1721 Rome)
Allegory of Summer: Ceres with a still life of peaches, figs, a pomegranate and a gourd,
oil on canvas, 97.2 x 72.7 cm, framed

We are grateful to Professor Alberto Cottino for having identified the present painting as an autograph work by both artists and for compiling the following catalogue note:

The present painting depicts a young girl in an elegant white tunic and a vaguely classical blue coat holding in her left hand a fig which she seems to offer to someone placed outside the composition. After the mid-seventeenth century the fashion for this kind of decorative images featuring young girls in a setting adorned with flowers and fruit quickly spread in Italy, particularly in Rome. In addition to their decorative character paintings of this kind quite possibly had some symbolic meaning, such as the metaphor of feminine beauty and youth, setting it in context with those of flowers and fruit. This iconographic theme was developed parallel to a similar interest in contemporary literature. Another possibility as to the iconography of the present painting is a playful erotic metaphor, not uncommon even in a society dominated by the restrictions of the Counter-Reformation. This allegorical meaning was obviously also developed influenced by Renaissance and Baroque literature (see for example the Capitolo in lode de’ fichi by Francesco Maria Molza, Modena 1489-1544). The figure is by a classical painter from Pistoia but active mainly in Rome, thanks to the protection of his countryman Pope Clement IX Rospigliosi: Luigi Garzi. The elegant features of the young woman recall the style of Garzi’s master Andrea Sacchi, and are characteristic for the painter as can be seen in the signed work Apollo and Daphne (formerly Rome, Palazzo de Carolis, Rome, today Banca di Roma collection). Daphne appears almost identical as the girl depicted here. Also comparable: Hercules and Omphale, Malibu, Getty Museum. Brueghel and Garzi collaborated on several occasions, including the important painting of a Woman among flowers in a private collection, published in the exhibition catalogue Natura morta italiana da Caravaggio al Settecento (Florence 2003, p. 370-371). The present collaboration should be dated to the early ‘70s (in 1670 both became members of the Accademia di San Luca), because in 1675 Brueghel left Rome for Naples, where he died in 1697.

We are grateful to Profssor Alberto Cottino for cataloguing the present work.

We are grateful to Professor Giancarlo Sestieri for independently confirming the attribution to Abraham Brueghel (1631-1690) and Luigi Garzi (1638-1721) for the present painting.