Table Of ContentGETTY MUSEUM STUDIES ON ART
JAN BRUEGHEL THE ELDER
The Entry of the Animals
into Noah's Ark
Arianne Faber Kolb
THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES
© 2005 J. Paul Getty Trust Library of Congress Cover and frontispiece:
Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jan Brueghel the Elder (Flemish,
Getty Publications 1568-1625), The Entry of the Animals
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 500 Kolb, Arianne Faber into Noah's Ark, 1613 [full painting
Los Angeles, California 90049-1682 Jan Brueghel the Elder : The entry and detail]. Oil on panel, 54.6 x
www.getty.edu of the animals into Noah's ark / 83.8 cm (21/2 x 33 in.). Los Angeles,
Arianne Faber Kolb. J. Paul Getty Museum, 92.PB.82.
Christopher Hudson, Publisher p. cm. — (Getty Museum
Mark Greenberg, Editor in Chief studies on art) Page i:
Includes bibliographical references Anthony van Dyck (Flemish,
Mollie Holtman, Series Editor
and index. 1599-1641) and an unknown
Abby Sider, Copy Editor
ISBN 0-89236-770-9 (pbk.) engraver, Portrait of Jan Brueghel
Jeffrey Cohen, Designer
1. Brueghel, Jan 1568—1625. Noah's the Elder, before 1621. Etching and
Suzanne Watson, Production
ark (J. Paul Getty Museum) engraving, second state, 24.9 x
Coordinator
2. Noah's ark in art. 3. Painting— 15.8 cm (9% x 6/4 in.). Amsterdam,
Christopher Foster, Lou Meluso,
California—Los Angeles. Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet,
Charles Passela, Jack Ross,
4. J. Paul Getty Museum. I. Title. RP-P-OP-II.II3.
Photographers
II. Series.
ND673.B72A7 2004
Typesetting by Diane Franco
759.9493 dc22
Printed in China by Imago
2005014758
All photographs are copyrighted by
the issuing institutions, unless other-
wise indicated.
Contents
The Painted Paradise i
The Descriptive Process: Brueghel's Representation of Animals 9
A Pictorial Catalogue of Species: The Artist as Naturalist 21
Brueghel's Artistic Background: The Tradition of Animal and Landscape Painting 32
Brueghel and the Invention of the Paradise Landscape 47
The Courtly Context 61
The Legacy of The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark 77
Notes 82
Index 93
Acknowledgments 98
The Painted Paradise
I
n The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark [FIG- seventeenth century, which typically represents episodes 1
URE i], painted in 1613, the extent of God's creative from Genesis [see "Brueghel and the Invention of the
power is magnificently displayed in the copious array Paradise Landscape," pp. 47 — 60]. In Brueghel's works,
of species. On a relatively small panel surface (21/2 x 33 numerous exotic and native European species coexist har-
inches), Jan Brueghel the Elder depicts numerous animals moniously in a lush landscape setting. He inherited his
and birds with remarkable accuracy and a high degree of specialization in landscapes from his father, Pieter Bruegel
finish. He demonstrates his accomplished miniaturist tech- the Elder (1525 — 1569), the most important Flemish painter
nique, particularly in the description of the small species. of his time. As his son, Jan was born with a relatively
Brueghel articulates every minute hair on the guinea pig high status in society. After six years in Italy, in 1596 he
and every variegated needle on the porcupine, as well established himself as the leading landscape and still-life
as the intricate patterns on the tortoise's shell [FIGURE 2] painter of Antwerp, his native city. While in Rome
and the different shades of red, blue, and yellow in the and Milan, Brueghel painted many landscapes and flower
parrots' feathers [FIGURE 3]. He sometimes provides paintings for Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whom he
a glimpse of the ducks' and swans' feet beneath the water continued to serve until the end of his life in 1625. In 1606
Figure 1 and even suggests the ripples in the water created by he was appointed court painter to the Archduke Albert
Jan Brueghel the Elder
these birds' movements. One can also identify the different of Austria (1559 — 1621) and the Infanta Isabella of Spain
(Flemish, 1568-1625),
types of birds flying in the distant sky, including birds of (1566-1633), who cultivated a magnificent menagerie
The Entry of the Animals
into Noah's Ark, 1613. paradise, hawks, and ducks. in Brussels that would provide him with live models for
Oil on panel, 54.6 x With paintings such as The Entry of the Animals into his paintings. Thus, Brueghel inhabited the worlds of
83.8 cm (21/2 x 33 in.).
Noah's Ark, Brueghel popularized the "paradise land- the elite burgher class of Antwerp, the court of Brussels,
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty
scape," a new subgenre of landscape painting in the early and the upper echelons of the Italian clergy [FIGURE 4].
Museum, 92.PB.82.
Brueghel's paintings evidently appealed to numerous
patrons, who shared his particular interest in nature.1 He
dazzled their senses with his paradise landscapes, which
depict every manner of fish, bird, and quadruped, and his
sumptuous bouquets, which include a copious variety of
flowers from every season [FIGURE 5]. Brueghel's special-
ization in flowers and animals demonstrates his encyclo-
pedic approach to exploring the visible world. He devoted
close and nearly equal attention to all aspects of nature,
whether animals, flowers, fruit, trees, mountains, seas, or
streams.
The novelty of Brueghel's paradise landscapes lies
2 not only in the impressive assemblage of animals studied
mainly from life but also in their presentation as both
figures of a religious narrative and as subjects of a scien-
tific order. An examination of these various approaches
forms the basis of this book. The two main elements
to be considered are the strategies employed in the artistic
representation of animals, and the scientific and cultural
attitudes of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth cen-
turies, in particular the emphasis on empirical evidence
as opposed to inherited tradition in natural historical
inquiry. Brueghel's landscapes were created during a period
that produced some of the first scholarly catalogues and
encyclopedias, in particular the illustrated natural history
Figures 2 and 3 opposite Figure 5 catalogues by the prominent sixteenth-century naturalists
Jan Brueghel the Elder, Figure 4 Jan Brueghel the Elder, Conrad Gesner and Ulisse Aldrovandi. Was Brueghel's
The Entry of the Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Vase of Flowers with Jewel,
production of The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark an
Animals into Noah's Ark 1577-1640), Portrait of Coins, and Shells, 1606.
intuitive response to his ability to render species and vege-
[details of Figure i]. Jan Brueghel the Elder and Oil on panel, 65 x 45 cm
His Family, circa 1612-13. (25X2 x i73/» in.). Milan, tation naturalistically, or did it reflect the interests of his
Oil on panel, 125 x 95.2 cm Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, 66. patrons and the European scholarly and courtly culture,
(49/4 x 37/2 in.). London,
or both? We shall see how Brueghel's particular approach
Courtauld Institute of Art
to nature imagery and landscapes, together with the
Gallery, The Samuel Courtauld
Trust, P.1978.PG.362. classifying culture of the time, contributed to the unique
3
Description:as the intricate patterns on the tortoise's shell [FIGURE 2] and the as opposed
to inherited tradition in natural historical inquiry. LOVEBIRD SPECIES.
