In order to distinguish between them, different families of Bruegel were given nicknames that characterized their work. So Jan Brueghel the Elder was called the Velvet - or Flower Brueghel. Indeed, his flower bouquets belonged to the most beautiful pieces of the Dutch painting. He composed an illusionistic flower paradise with his masterful, accurate rendition of flower shapes and colors of all seasons. Thanks to his education in miniature painting, he managed to represent the beauty of the flowers in great detail.

Jan Brueghel was the second son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Born in 1568 in Brussels. After his apprenticeship with Coninxloo he went to Italy and was admitted to the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1597. Here thanks to his work he made friends with Peter Paul Rubens. The highest point of his career was a position of the court painter However, the highlight of his career was the position of a painter at the court of Albrecht, the Archduke of Austria.

Although Jan Brueghel took up the themes of his father’s works, for example the landscapes or peasant scenes, however, he never achieved their moralizing effect. He was especially skillful in the use of color: the velvet light effects of a unique color palette were achieved thanks to the light and dark contrasts, while the magnificent flower still lives infatuated by their clear composition and color.

On January 12, 1625 Jan Brueghel the Elder, a highly respected painter in Antwerp, died of cholera.