Jan Brueghel the Elder, scion to an eminent Flemish dynasty of painters, was doing well in his day. On an equal footing with Peter Paul Rubens – both men used to work conjointly on paintings at times – Flower Brueghel, as he was aptly called, was one of the leading painters at the turn of the 17th century. But why should this be of interest to us? Still lifes, especially from these days, are not precisely at the core of the contemporary interest in art.
