The Great and Wonderful Book of Nature

The
Ambrosiana Gallery boasts the most important and impressive private
collection of Flemish masters in Italy. They were collected by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, the founder of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, since his youth,
when he lived in Rome. There, he was able to meet two Flemish artists with whom he would cultivate a particular and
long lasting friendship: Jan Brueghel the Elder and Paul Bril. When he became Archbishop
of Milan, he maintained an epistolary relationship with Brueghel, continuing to
commission from him highly refined works. Flemish painting moves from the
religious subject in the strict sense of the term to the naturalistic subject (landscapes,
still lifes, flowers, objects) without ever losing sight of the religious
dimension, since, as noted by Cardinal Federico "God does not only reveal
himself in the Sacred History, but also in the great and wonderful book of
nature and creation".

The birth of this magnificent
still life is documented in the correspondence between Brueghel and
the Cardinal Borromeo, kept in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.

In January 1606 Brueghel told Borromeo that he
was working on a painting with a flamboyant bunch of flowers, with plants chosen for their beauty and rarity. In order to paint them
from real, Brueghel said he had gone directly to Brussels, in the park of the Archdukes, where
he had admired some extremely rare species.

The luxurious bunch is composed by more than a hundred flowers’varieties, with lilies, irises, daffodils, cloves and poppies placed in a little vase.

Tiny insects resting on the flowers'petals are scattered over the whole composition

At the base of the vase there are two coins, four shells and a fine jewel.

In a letter of June 13 1608, Jan Brueghel said he was sending a painting with three tulips and other rare spring flowers.

The bunch is placed in a römer glass, a typical Rhenish artifact that often appears in northern paintings of this period. As in all of Brueghel's artworks, objects are defined in the tiniest detail.

This miniature, sent by Brueghel to the Cardinal as a gift, represents a delicate roses twig, a tiny mouse, a caterpillar and a butterfly.

The subjects are portrayed against a total white background, with no spatial indication.It is widely considered to be the artwork that best represents Brueghel’s incredible skill as a miniaturist.

Borromeo highly appreciated the artist's gift and he warmly praised the little artwork saying that “in it, even mice look pleasant”.

The genesis of Allegory of Fire and Water is documented
in the correspondence between Brueghel and Cardinal Borromeo, which is still kept
in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana. Brueghel met Borromeo in Rome around 1592, and he
followed the Cardinal to Milan in 1595. He got back to his hometown Antwerp the following
year, but he remained in touch with his mentor by a tight correspondence.

The two Allegories of Fire and Water were
initially part of a unique organic series, made between 1608
and 1621. The main subject are the four elements which, according to ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles, make up the whole universe: earth, water, air, fire.
In 1796 the whole series was requisitioned and taken to the Louvre
Museum by Napoleon. Of the four paintings, just Fire and Water were brought back to the Ambrosiana, while Earth and Air are still kept in the Louvre.

The allegory of Fire, datable to 1608, was the first one to be completed and it is the best of the series, where the artist’s creativity was able to depict an infinite variety of curious subjects.

On the right top there is a building on fire, to symbolize the destructive power of the natural element.

The left side is occupied by an immense forge, where metalworkers are manufacturing an extraordinary variety of objects thanks to the force of fire, which is tamed in the furnace on the left.

The painter's signature "Brueghel 1608" runs along the border on the table that appears in the lower left corner of the artwork.

The allegory of Water is the series’third painting and it was sent to Cardinal Federico in 1614. It shows a luxuriant natural landscape with ancestral features, which may be referring to the Creation.

Two tall trees divide the composition in two parts. In front of them there are two ancient fluvial divinities holding large shells from which spring water flows.

On the right, Brueghel depicted a tight forest, dominated by a waterfall.

On the left there is a sea view, surmounted by the rainbow.

In foreground, on the left, the scene is animated by three “putti” who are playing with fishes and birds in a ring of water.

Among the paintings by Paul Bril donated to the Ambrosiana by the Cardinal, this one stands out both for its fine execution and its uniqueness as the artist’s one painting representing this subject.

Although depicting a biblical subject, we could say nature is the real main character of this painting.

The artist describes the forest's vegetation and its fauna in their tiniest details.

This seascape by Bril, depicting and imaginary Mediterranean scenario, is another highlight of the collection and was particularly admired by Cardinal Federico.

Indeed, he used to say that, when contemplating this marina, “one could think he was walking on it by foot no less than with his mind”