Jan Pieter Brueghel

Jan Pieter Brueghel or Jan Peeter Brueghel (29 August 1628 (baptised) – between 1664 and 1684) was a Flemish painter who specialised in flower still lifes and garland paintings. A scion of the famous Brueghel family of painters, he trained in Antwerp with his father and later worked in Liège, Paris and Italy.

Life Brueghel was born in Antwerp where he was baptised on 29 August 1628. He was the son of Jan Brueghel the Younger and Anna-Maria Janssens. His mother was the daughter of the Antwerp history painter Abraham Janssens. His father was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder, who was one of the most important creative forces in early 17th century Antwerp, a prolific painter in many genres and a frequent collaborator of Rubens. His father had taken over the large workshop of Jan the Elder on his death in 1625 and continued its large output of biblical, mythological, allegorical, genre and still life paintings. Jan Pieter's brothers Abraham Brueghel, Philips, Ferdinand and Jan Baptist Brueghel also became successful artists. He also worked briefly in Paris but was again a resident of Antwerp in 1662. His younger brother Abraham had already proceeded him to Italy and had lived in Rome since 1659. A painting by him of a Garland of flowers with the return of the Prodigal Son painted in collaboration with Erasmus Quellinus II was sent by him to Frankfurt via the art dealer Guillam Forchondt the Elder.

It is believed that Jan Pieter continued to work in Italy and died there before 1684. As he signed some of his works with 'Jan Br., some of his works have been attributed to his father and grandfather.

Flower pieces His style was highly influenced by his grandfather Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan Davidsz. de Heem. Garland paintings

Brueghel collaborated with figure painters in the creation of garland paintings. Garland paintings are a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by artists such as Jan Pieter's grandfather Jan Brueghel the Elder, Hendrick van Balen, Frans Francken the Younger, Peter Paul Rubens and Daniel Seghers. They typically show a flower garland around a devotional image or portrait. This genre was inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally. In the later development of the genre, the cartouche in the centre of garland paintings was often a secular scene such as a portrait or an allegorical subject.

Garland paintings were usually collaborations between a still life and a figure painter.

Brueghel family tree