(Antwerp 1631–1690 Naples) and Guillaume Courtois (St. Hippolyte 1628–1679 Rome)
A still life of fruit with Pomona
oil on canvas, 127 x 181.6 cm, framed

We are grateful to Fred Meijer and Nicola Spinosa, for independently confirming the attribution of the present painting.

The present painting is one of the most impressive examples of the collaboration between these two artists. It is a variation on a very similar upright rectangular composition in a private collection (see G. and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a Roma, Artisti Stranieri 1630–1750, Viadana, 2009, pp. 122 and 124, fig. AB5). Courtois also used the female figure for a work now in the Dresden Picture Gallery (see Bocchi, op. cit., p. 122).

The still life painter Abraham Brueghel was the younger son of Jan Brueghel the Younger and went to Italy in 1649 where entered the service of the Sicilian aristocrat Don Antonio Ruffo. After 1660 he settled in Rome, from where he moved to Naples in 1671. Having initially modelled his painting on the manner of his father, Abraham Brueghel later increasingly based his style on the art of Daniel Seghers. The present composition exhibits Abraham Brueghel’s precise observation of nature, typical of the Northern European painting tradition. He is still interested in the accurate rendering of detail and precision that were so important both for his father and, even more so, for his grandfather, Jan Brueghel the Elder.

A painting by Abraham Brueghel of similar dimensions and featuring an equally ambitious composition was sold at Dorotheum, Vienna on 21 October 2014, lot 24.

Additional image
Abraham Brueghel, sale Dorotheum 21st October 2014, Lot 24