The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 07 March 2025

On Display Permanent collection

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On Display

Permanent collection

Jan Brueghel, the Elder

Brussels, 1568 - Antwerp, 1625

Wooded Landscape with Abraham and Isaac

Date 1599
Materials and Techniques oil on panel
Size(cm) 49.5 x 64.7
Inscriptions Signed and dated lower left: I, BRVEGHEL 1599
Credit Line Purchased
Standard ref. Ertz 56
Category Paintings
Collection Number P.2002-0001

The second son of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Jan Brueghel the Elder painted landscapes and finely detailed floral still lifes on panel and copperplate. This work depicts the scene from the Bible when Abraham, commanded by God to sacrifice his own son, is travelling to the land of Moriah. In the foreground, the elderly Abraham is riding a donkey, while the young Isaac, his son, accompanies him carrying a bundle of firewood. The painting is one of many examples of the artist incorporating religious figures as staffage into forest landscapes. (Source: Gallery label, July 2016)

Provenance

Sale Amsterdam (Mak van Waay), 14 March 1972, lot 12; New York Maxwell Brandwen Collection; Thomas & Brenda Brod, London; Purchased by the NMWA, 2002.

Exhibition History

1993
The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: MA, 22 September 1993 - 2 January 1994, cat. no. 79
1997
Pieter Breughel le jeune (1565-1637/8), Jan Brueghel l'ancien (1568-1625): une famille des peintres flamands vers 1600,  Kulturstiftung Ruhr, Villa Hügel, Essen, 16 August 1997 - 16 November 1998, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien, 9 Dec. 1997 - 14 Apr. 1998, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Anvers, 3 May - 26 July 1998, cat. no. 40

Bibliography

1979
Ertz, K. Jan Brueghel der Ältere: Die Gemäelde. Cologne, 1979, p. 199, no. 56.
2004
Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 37 (Apr. 2002-Mar. 2003), 2004, Kofuku, Akira. New Acquisitons. pp. 9-11, List of New Acquisitions. p. 38, repr.
2006
Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 38, col. repr.
2009
Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 38, col. repr.
2013
Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 28, col. repr.
2018
Kofuku, Akira. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. [Tokyo], The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; The Western Art Foundation, 2018, pp. 56-59, no. 12, col. repr.

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