monkeys feasting
oil on copper
27,2 x 35,2 cm
41 X 49 cm frame in "macassar" ebony called "coromandel"
painting hanging on the wall on top right represents "Pan and Ceres" by Rubens, a painting which dates from 1617(information from Mr. Bert Schepers). This painting is also represented on the middle left of a "constkamer" in a private collection (1)
The table cloth is the same as the one used in the painting "the taste" by Jan Brueghel the elder(Prado museum Madrid). Also the gold painted leather wall covering has exactly the same design on both pictures.The Prado painting dates from early 1618.
The "castle" in the landscape is a corner of the summer-palace of the archduke Albrecht in "Marienburg" (2)
Most of the monkeys are represented in a painting by Teniers David II dating from 1660 (Prado museum). This supports the theorie that Teniers must have owned the painting(maybe through his wife Anna Brueghel daughter of Jan Brueghel the elder, and has added the plumes on on the heads of a few monkeys
The not signed print dates from the 18th or 19th century and can be found in the section "A.P.de Mirimonde" in the "Bibliothèque nationale de France". (information from Mr Bert Schepers)
(1) see "kamers vol kunst in 17de eeuws Antwerpen" exposition catalogue Rubenshuis Antwerpen 2010 and Mauritshuis Den Haag 2010 . "Allegorie op de schilderkunst" oil on copper 45 x 75 cm Jan Brueghel II c.1625, most likely a copie of a lost work by Jan Brueghel the elder. ill.14 p.34
(2) see "The smell", one of the paintings of the five senses by Jan Brueghel the elder in the Prado museum of Madrid(dated 1618), for a picture of the palace taken from the same angle.
1)Rubenshuis Wapper Antwerpen : long term loan from oktober 2012 till december 2022
2)"L'odyssée des animaux" musée de Flandre Cassel France
8 oct 2016-22 jan 2017
3) Snijders-Rockoxhuis Antwerpen : long term loan from januar 2023 till...
4) Budapest
Bert Schepers "Monkey Madness in Seventeenth-century Antwerp" in Rubenianum Quarterly december 2012. col.Ill. fig.1
The Rubenshuis : museum guide 2014 BAI
color ill. P. 106 and 107 text P.108
Bert Schepers: "la folie des singes à Anvers au XVII°SIècle
dans: Les collections de la république des lettres, 2019 p.153-172
Catalogue exposition "L'odyssée des animaux" 08/10/2016-22 jan 2017 + ill.




