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Jan Brueghel the Elder, 'Bouquet in a Clay Vase', about 1609

Key facts
Full title Bouquet in a Clay Vase
Artist Jan Brueghel the Elder
Artist dates 1568 - 1625
Date made about 1609
Medium and support Oil on wood
Dimensions 56 × 42 cm
Acquisition credit On loan from the collection of Janice and Brian Capstick
Inventory number L1253
Location Room 28
Image copyright On loan from the collection of Janice and Brian Capstick, © Private Collection
Collection Main Collection
Bouquet in a Clay Vase
Jan Brueghel the Elder

Jan Brueghel the Elder is seen as the founding father of the genre of flower still lifes, in which flowers are not merely decorative or allegorical accessories but the sole focus of the painting. This major example of Brueghel’s pioneering still lives shows an impressive bouquet from a high viewpoint to make sure that all the carefully rendered flowers and insects are clearly visible.

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More paintings by Jan Brueghel the Elder

Landscape with Travellers and Peasants on a Track
Landscape with Travellers and Peasants on a Track
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Room 27
The Adoration of the Kings
The Adoration of the Kings
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel seems to have squeezed a whole world into his tiny picture. A crowd waits patiently for a turn to come closer to the little child on his mother’s knee. The baby is bare, to show us that he’s a real human baby, but the silvery arrow of light tells us something more.The old man kneelin...
Room 27
The Interior of a Gothic Church looking East
The Interior of a Gothic Church looking East
Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder
Although this picture shows an imagined interior rather than a real church, it is highly detailed. The lead of the windowpanes is visible, and the subjects of some of the paintings that hang on the pillars can be identified (on the closest pillar on the left, Christ is depicted with the woman of...
Not on display
Croesus and Solon
Croesus and Solon
Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger and follower of Jan Brueghel the Elder
This painting depicts a legendary moment recounted by the ancient Greek historians Herodotus and Plutarch: Solon, an Athenian philosopher and lawmaker, disputes with Croesus, King of Lydia, on the subject of happiness.We see Solon approach Croesus as he passes through the ruler’s palace at Sardis...
Not on display
Pan pursuing Syrinx
Pan pursuing Syrinx
Hendrick van Balen the Elder and Follower of Jan Brueghel the Elder
The god Pan pursues the virginal nymph Syrinx, who flails her arms as she teeters on the edge of the river Ladon, a frog escaping out of her path. She is moments from being transformed by river nymphs into reeds, in answer to her prayers to escape her unwanted suitor. Pan would later use these re...
Room 27