Allegory Of Summer, Workshop Of Hendrick Van Balen, 17th Century Antwerp School

Allegory of summer, personified by Ceres
Workshop of Hendrick Van Balen
Antwerp School, early 17th century.

Oil on copper,
Dimensions: h. 52 cm, l. 40cm
Antic giltwood frame
Framed dimensions: h. 74 cm, l. 60cm
Very good condition
 
Our delicately painted work is part of the pictorial tradition that is both allegorical and mythological in vogue in Antwerp, whose leaders are Jan Brueghel the Younger and Hendrick Van Balen. Numerous works emerging from their workshops illustrate mythological subjects, the seasons, the elements, the senses or intertwining the lush landscapes, animals and gods of Olympus.
At the heart of a green landscape dominated in its center by a generous apple tree, the beautiful Ceres, partially dressed in a large blue drape, is wearing a crown of ears of wheat, her symbol of the goddess of the earth and harvests. She holds the sickle in her right hand and carries sheaves of wheat. To her right a nymph holds the cornucopia while puttis pick and offer flowers.
In the foreground are the summer fruits: figs, cherries, apples and lemons. A squirrel munching on cherries symbolizes toil and foresight, themes that are echoed in the work of the harvesters on the wheat fields in the background.
The background is composed of vegetation, on the right a wild rose bush with its branches erect against a tree trunk, in the center of the trees with silvery green foliage.
Our painter, a pupil of Hendrick Van Balen, finds his inspiration in the works of the master such as this nymph in yellow drapery seen from behind, one of the figures which accompanies many of the master's paintings. The elegant gestures, the flesh...The indisputable influence of Jan Brueghel the Younger is revealed in the treatment of trees and flowers, wild roses, tulips as well as in the still life with the squirrel in the foreground.
The craze for this type of virtuoso painting where the mythological figures are only a pretext to better illustrate the landscape and plant species surrounding them, then generated orders from all over Europe.

Hendrick Van Balen, Flemish painter, born and died in Antwerp (1575-1632). A student of Adam Van Noort, he entered the guild of Saint-Luc in 1593, later trained in Italy and was Van Dyck's first master. He often painted small characters taken from scenes from the Bible or classical mythology, on paintings in which Josse de Momper or the Brueghels painted the backgrounds and landscapes.