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Lot Essay
The present lot is one of eight known allegories of the Seasons that the artist painted towards the end of his life in circa 1593-7.
Wied, op. cit., pp. 35-6, has grouped these into series, and has suggested that because of their near identical measurements, the present lot probably belonged to the same series as the Allegory of Summer in Castolovice Castle (ibid., no. 62); the allegories of Spring and of Winter from the series are lost. He concurs with Seifertová, 1974, loc. cit., that this series could well be that painted for Archduke Ernst (see provenance, above), and listed in the inventory of his possessions, having probably been painted to decorate his palace in Brussels.
The view depicted is of the Weinmarkt in Frankfurt, in which city Valckenborch is thought to have settled in 1593. The series was probably commissioned by the Archduke Ernst when Valkenborch was still at Linz and prior to the Archduke's departure for Brussels, as the Allegory of Summer is dated 1592, and was completed in Frankfurt whither Valkenborch's pupil, Georg Flegel, accompanied him. Müller was the first to identify Flegel as responsible for the still life elements, a view confirmed by the picture's inclusion in the Flegel exhibition of 1993.
Valkenborch's treatment of the market scene differs from that of Aertsen and de Beuckelaer, who had made the theme popular in the Netherlands, by his introduction of both topographical and anecdotal features. He also combined it with allegories of the Seasons.
The influence of Pieter Brueghel I is evident in the two peasants that introduce the composition in the foreground.
Wied, op. cit., pp. 35-6, has grouped these into series, and has suggested that because of their near identical measurements, the present lot probably belonged to the same series as the Allegory of Summer in Castolovice Castle (ibid., no. 62); the allegories of Spring and of Winter from the series are lost. He concurs with Seifertová, 1974, loc. cit., that this series could well be that painted for Archduke Ernst (see provenance, above), and listed in the inventory of his possessions, having probably been painted to decorate his palace in Brussels.
The view depicted is of the Weinmarkt in Frankfurt, in which city Valckenborch is thought to have settled in 1593. The series was probably commissioned by the Archduke Ernst when Valkenborch was still at Linz and prior to the Archduke's departure for Brussels, as the Allegory of Summer is dated 1592, and was completed in Frankfurt whither Valkenborch's pupil, Georg Flegel, accompanied him. Müller was the first to identify Flegel as responsible for the still life elements, a view confirmed by the picture's inclusion in the Flegel exhibition of 1993.
Valkenborch's treatment of the market scene differs from that of Aertsen and de Beuckelaer, who had made the theme popular in the Netherlands, by his introduction of both topographical and anecdotal features. He also combined it with allegories of the Seasons.
The influence of Pieter Brueghel I is evident in the two peasants that introduce the composition in the foreground.