Artwork
Holy family with a garland of flowers and fruits
Holy family with a garland of flowers and fruits is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Jan Brueghel, the elder. It dates from 1620 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. Created in 1620 by Jan Brueghel the Elder, this oil painting presents a devotional scene framed by an exuberant border of flora and fruit.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts the Holy Family, Mary, the Christ Child, and Joseph, encircled by a garland of flowers and fruits.
The painting depicts the Holy Family, Mary, the Christ Child, and Joseph, encircled by a garland of flowers and fruits. As a religious work, its central subject is the sacred grouping of the Virgin Mary with her son and his foster father, a devotional theme common in early seventeenth-century Flemish art. The surrounding floral and fruit garland, characteristic of Jan Brueghel the Elder's signature compositions, combines devotional imagery with the lush natural symbolism for which the artist was renowned, framing the sacred figures with an abundant display of botanical life.
The garland motif carries symbolic weight: flowers and fruits traditionally evoked themes of paradise, abundance, and the fruits of salvation, while also serving as a visual meditation on creation. By entwining the Holy Family within this natural abundance, the work unites Christian iconography with the Flemish tradition of floral still life, presenting the sacred figures as the spiritual center of a divinely ordered natural world.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1620, this work is an oil painting on panel by Jan Brueghel the Elder. The composition integrates a religious narrative, depicting the Holy Family with the Christ Child, Mary, and Joseph, within an elaborate garland of flowers and fruits. This approach exemplifies the artist's specialization in combining floral still-life elements with figural scenes, a genre for which he was renowned.
The painting measures 93.5 cm in height and 70.7 cm in width. It is currently held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections and displayed at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
History & Provenance
The painting titled Holy family with a garland of flowers and fruits was created by Jan Brueghel the Elder in 1620. Executed in oil on panel, the work depicts the Holy Family, specifically Mary, the Christ Child, and Joseph, surrounded by a floral and fruit garland. The piece is currently held by the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, which is part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
No specific details regarding the original commission, the identity of the initial patron, or the intermediate steps of the ownership chain from its creation to its current location are provided in the available records.
The painting is held in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, as part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections. It is inventoried there as 7036.
The work was exhibited in 2019 at the Kunsthalle München in the exhibition Jan Brueghel the Elder: The Elusive Garden.
Overview
Created in 1620 by Jan Brueghel the Elder, this oil painting presents a devotional scene framed by an exuberant border of flora and fruit. The composition combines a traditional Holy Family grouping with a dense, almost ornamental arrangement of vines, blossoms, and ripe produce, set against a luminous sky and distant trees. The work exemplifies the rich visual language of early‑17th‑century Flemish Baroque.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jan Brueghel the Elder ( BROY-gəl, US also BROO-gəl; Dutch:; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman.
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