Feast of cherubs in a landscape

Oil painting on canvas

67 x 83 cm., Framed 86 x 99 cm.

This valuable painting, made in the second half of the 17th century, stages a cheerful little theater of cupids who carefree accompany each other in their games, immersed in a verdant landscape on the edge of a forest. One of them is on the back of a goat, on which he has placed a flowery wreath, while a companion in flight passes him a bunch of grapes from above, another picks from the ground the basket of grapes that the animal tries to eat, while another pair of cherubs are dancing to the sound of a tambourine.

The proximity to a temple, of which we see a fragment on the right, could suggest that the little ones gathered to donate offerings to their patron goddess, Venus.

This canvas may also have originally been part of a series of works illustrating the four seasons or the five senses.

A fascinating glimpse of a landscape opens on the right of the composition, with a stream on the banks of which stands a small perched village and a sort of obelisk, of evident Flemish ancestry.

The style of the work, distinguished by a material drafting with soft features and a brilliant colorism, make it attributable to the Roman environment of the second half of the seventeenth century, facilitating its assignment to an author close to the circle of Abraham Brueghel (Antwerp 1631 - Naples 1697), Flemish by origin but active in Italy for most of his career, first in Rome then in Naples.

After an apprenticeship in Antwerp with his father Jan Brueghel II, Abraham arrived in Rome around 1659, when he was an already established painter, becoming a point of reference not only for the high-ranking Roman client, but also for many authors who made competition to collaborate with him or to study his works closely.

The baroque exuberance of the softened colors and the setting are typical features of the creations of Guglielmo Cortese known as Borgognone (Saint Hippolite 1628- Rome 1679), borrowed from the examples of Brueghel of which he was a great follower. Thanks to their different specializations, the two masters collaborated in the execution of numerous works: Courtois took care of the figures, Brueghel performed flowers and fruit and landscapes.

The painting is in good condition, with a beautiful gilded wooden frame.

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