Madonna and Child in a Flower Garland (Madrid)
| Object type | Painting |
| Genre | Garland |
| Date | 1609-1616 |
| Dimensions | 48 x 36 cm |
| Support | Copper |
| Medium | Oil |
| Collaborators | Giulio Cesare Procaccini |
| Collaborator notes | ? |
| Our attribution | Jan Brueghel the Elder |
| Other authorities | Ertz 2008-10, #463 Ertz 1979, #211 |
| Location | Madrid, Spain |
| Collection | Museo del Prado |
| Accession numbers | inv. #1417 |
| Tags | Insects, Angels, Christ, Virgin Mary, Flowers, Garland |
| External resources | Museo del Prado |
Note: The title for this work on the Prado website is 'Garland with the Virgin, the Christ Child and Two Angels'.
"Garland with the Virgin, the Christ Child and Two Angels" on the Prado Website
The identification of Giulio Cesare Procaccini as the collaborator is doubtful but is generally retained because nobody has come up with a better idea. Early inventories do not name the collaborator. Jan would presumably have sent a garland to Milan for this guy he didn't even know to fill in. Of course that is not impossible, and Procaccini was connected to the Borromeo circuit. Mozzarelli 1999 attributes the central figure group to G. C. Procaccini and dates the piece to c. 1618-20.
There is an inferior copy in Bologna and there is a copy attributed to Jan the Younger.
(Museum notes): The relationship (painterly) between interior and exterior here is very unusual. Whoever painted interior has same aesthetic as Jan Brueghel: the super-refined painterliness that refuses to erase itself but at same time demands incredibly close visual attention. So the two levels of the painting almost compete with one another visually rather than separating out--flowers here do not "adorn" what is within them because it isn't clear how "within" them it is.