World Culture: The exhibition of works by Flemish masters of the XVI-XVII centuries opened in St. Petersburg

The exhibition Brueghels: The Dynasty Continued. Flemish Painting from the Collection of Valeria and Konstantin Mauergauz has been opened in the Great Hall of the Menshikov Palace (the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg).

The exposition features 28 paintings by outstanding Flemish artists of the XVI-XVII centuries. The paintings are a part of one of the largest private collections in Russia that are made up of works by celebrated followers of the Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s traditions. Visitors of the exhibition will have an opportunity to see paintings by later generations of his famous family – his sons, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder, a grandson, Jan Brueghel the Younger, and a great-grandson, Jan van Kessel the Elder.

The central place in the exhibition is reserved for Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s work The Good Shepherd. Due to the high quality of the painting, for many years scholars attributed this masterpiece to Peasant Brueghel himself. Following his father’s original work, which was not preserved, Pieter the Younger offers an entirely unique interpretation of the subject that is unparalleled in world art.

An important section of the exhibition is dedicated to works on the theme of Low Countries proverbs. They include the painting The Rich Man and the Flatterers which illustrates the meaning of the saying about a crowd of sycophants surrounding a wealthy person. It is one of the earliest examples of Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s art.

The masterpieces created by the renowned Brueghel dynasty are complemented by a number of works by their contemporaries who worked in various genres. Those include Sebastiaen Vrancx, Jan van Kessel the Elder, Joos de Momper and Frans Francken the Younger.

The concept and composition of the exhibition provide an exceptional opportunity to trace the evolution and fate of the Brueghel tradition in Flemish art across the XVII century. The showcased works allow to substantially broaden existing conceptions of the phenomenon of the younger Brueghels and the creative character of their contemporaries.

The exhibition will run until August 28, 2022.