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Garland of Flowers with Madonna and Child

Daniel SeghersFirst half of the 17th century

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan

Still-lifes became one of the important genres of paintings during the 17th century in Europe. Works that focused on flowers enjoyed great success amidst this trend, and a large number of artists in the Netherlands created images that take flowers as their subject. Many of these works represent an escape from religious subjects by artists in Holland, recently independent from the Catholic bastion of Spain. At the same time, the painters in Catholic Flanders combined this new genre with religious themes to create highly decorative religious works adorned with still-life elements. As a result, a large number of works were created in which a religious theme was surrounded by a garland of flowers. Depictions of the Madonna and Child constitute the majority of the religious elements of these works. The garlands of flowers are thought to have represented flower offerings to the Madonna and Child, at the same time that they were symbols of the admonitory theme of Vanitas. In this work the flowers were painted by Daniel Seghers while the Madonna and Child were painted by Cornelis Schut. This entrusting of the different elements to separate artists was a standard practice, and while occasionally the religious element was entrusted to a master painter such as Rubens, in general, the flowers were the central theme of the work and hence these works must be primarily considered as flower paintings.(Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 30)

Details

  • Title: Garland of Flowers with Madonna and Child
  • Creator Lifespan: 1590 - 1661
  • Creator Nationality: Flemish
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Creator Death Place: Antwerp
  • Creator Birth Place: Antwerp
  • Date Created: First half of the 17th century
  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings: Signed lower right on slab: Daniel Seghers. SOCtis / JESU; Brand of Antwerp on back of panel
  • Provenance: Count of Schönborn Coll., Scholoss Pommersfelden; Auc. Schönborn, Hôtel Drouot, Paris May 17-24, 1867, no. 216; J. V. Novák, Prague, 1899; Galerie Nathan, Zürich.
  • Physical Dimensions: w535 x h770 mm
  • Painter: Daniel Seghers
  • Object title (Japanese): 花環の中の聖母子
  • Object notes (Japanese): 静物画は、17世紀のヨーロッパにおいて初めて重要な絵画ジャンルの一つとして認識されるようになった。花を主題とした作品もそうした趨勢の中で大きな成功を収め、とりわけネーデルラントでは多くの画家が花を主題とする作品を制作した。カトリック国スペインからの独立を果たしたばかりのオランダでは、この主題も宗教性を脱した純粋な静物画として描かれることが多かったが、カトリック側にとどまったフランドルでは、この新しい絵画ジャンルと宗教主題が結びついて、静物画的要素を持った装飾性の強い宗教画が成立した。すなわち、宗教主題の周囲に花環を配した作品が多数制作されたのである。その宗教主題は多様であったが、とりわけ好まれたのは聖母子である。花環にはおそらく聖母に対しての献花といった意味が込められていたと思われるが、また、時に「虚栄(ヴァニタス)」の訓戒を伝えるものとして描かれることもあったようである。本作品は、花をダニエル・セーへルスが、聖母子をコルネリス・スフートが描いたものである。このように、花と宗教主題は異なる二人の画家によって描かれるのが通例で、なかには、宗教主題がルーベンスのような大家の手に委ねられるといった場合もあったが、基本的には花が主であり、あくまで「花の絵」と見なされていたことは留意されなければならない。(出典: 国立西洋美術館名作選. 東京, 国立西洋美術館, 2006. cat. no. 30)
  • Artist Name (Japanese): スフート、コルネリス
  • Type: Paintings
  • Rights: http://www.nmwa.go.jp/en/information/privacy.html
  • External Link: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
  • Medium: Oil on panel

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