Editing Jan Brueghel the Elder (section)

===Collaborations===
[[File:Jan Brueghel & Hans Rottenhammer - Christus in het voorgeborchteFXD.jpg|thumb|''Christ in Limbo'', with Hans Rottenhammer]]
Collaboration between artists specialised in distinctive genres was a defining feature of artistic practice in 17th-century Antwerp. Jan Brueghel was likewise a frequent collaborator with fellow artists. As he was an artist with a wide range of skills he worked with a number of collaborators in various genres. His collaborators included landscape artists [[Paul Bril]] and [[Joos de Momper]], architectural painter [[Paul Vredeman de Vries]] and figure painters [[Frans Francken the Younger]], [[Hendrick de Clerck]], [[Pieter van Avont]] and [[Hendrick van Balen]].

His collaborations with figure painter [[Hans Rottenhammer]] began in Rome around 1595 and ended in 1610. Rottenhammer was a gifted figure painter and known for his skill in painting nudes. Initially when the artists both lived in Venice, their collaborative works were executed on canvas, but in their later collaborations after Brueghel had returned to Antwerp they typically used copper. After Brueghel's return to Antwerp, their collaboration practice was for Brueghel to send the coppers with the landscape to Rottenhammer in Venice, who painted in the figures and then returned the coppers. In a few instances, the process was the other way around.<ref>[https://www.dorotheum.com/en/auctions/current-auctions/kataloge/list-lots-detail/auktion/10313-old-master-paintings/lotID/524/lot/1584965-hans-rottenhammer-and-jan-brueghel.html Hans Rottenhammer and Jan Brueghel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220174340/https://www.dorotheum.com/en/auctions/current-auctions/kataloge/list-lots-detail/auktion/10313-old-master-paintings/lotID/524/lot/1584965-hans-rottenhammer-and-jan-brueghel.html |date=20 December 2016 }} at Dorotheum</ref> Brueghel and Rottenhammer did not collaborate only on landscape paintings with figures; they jointly created one of the earliest devotional garland paintings, made for Cardinal Federico Borromeo, depicting a Virgin and Child surrounded by a flower garland ([[Biblioteca Ambrosiana|Pinacoteca Ambrosiana]]).<ref>Van Hogendorp Prosperetti, 2009, p. 109</ref>
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens - The Return from War, Mars Disarmed by Venus.jpg|thumb|left|''The Return from War: Mars Disarmed by Venus'', with Rubens]]

While in his collaborations with Hans Rottenhammer, the landscapes were made by Brueghel, the roles were reversed when he worked with Joos de Momper as it was Brueghel who provided the figures to the landscapes painted by de Momper. An example of their collaboration is [[:File:'A Hermit before a Grotto' by Joos de Momper the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder.jpg|''Mountain Landscape with Pilgrims in a Grotto Chapel'']] ({{Circa|1616}}, [[Liechtenstein Museum]]). There are about 59 known collaborations between Brueghel and de Momper making de Momper his most frequent collaborator.<ref name=sphinx>{{Cite web |url=http://newmedia.artsolution.net/media/LeSphinxLephoto/ObjectDocuments/2012_1_27_17_21_21_Brueghel.pdf |title=Jan Brueghel I & Joos de Momper II, ''A Coastal Landscape with Fishermen with their Catch by a Ruined Tower'' |access-date=14 December 2016 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220130941/http://newmedia.artsolution.net/media/LeSphinxLephoto/ObjectDocuments/2012_1_27_17_21_21_Brueghel.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Hendrick van Balen the Elder was another regular collaborator with Jan Brueghel. Their collaboration was simplified by the fact that from 1604 onwards both painters had moved to the Lange Nieuwstraat, which made it easier to carry the panels and copper plates on which they collaborated back and forth.<ref name=34p/>

Another frequent collaborator of Jan Brueghel was Rubens. The two artists executed about 25 joint works between 1598 and 1625. Their first collaboration was on [[The Battle of the Amazons (Rubens)|''The Battle of the Amazons'']] ({{Circa|1598}}-1600, [[Sanssouci Picture Gallery]]). The artists worked together in the development of the genre of the devotional garland painting with works such as the [[:File:Peter Paul Rubens - Madonna in Floral Wreath.jpg|''Madonna in a Floral Wreath'']] ({{Circa|1616}}-1618, [[Alte Pinakothek]]). They further jointly made mythological scenes and an allegorical series representing the Five Senses. The collaboration between the two friends was remarkable because they worked in very different styles and specialisations and were artists of equal status. They were able to preserve the individuality of their respective styles in these joint works.
[[File:Jan Brueghel de Oude en Peter Paul Rubens - Het aards paradijs met de zondeval van Adam en Eva.jpg|thumb|''Paradise with the Fall of Man'', with Rubens]]

Brueghel appears to have been the principal initiator of their joint works, which were made principally during the second half of the 1610s when their method of collaboration had become more systemised and included Rubens' workshop. Usually it would be Brueghel who started a painting and he would leave space for Rubens to add the figures.<ref name=34p>Anne T. Woollett et al., 2006, pp. 3–4</ref> In their early collaborations they seem to have made major corrections to the work of the other. For instance, in the early collaborative effort [[:File:Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish) - The Return from War- Mars Disarmed by Venus - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Return from War: Mars Disarmed by Venus'']] Rubens overpainted most of the lower-right corner with grey paint so he could enlarge his figures. In later collaborations the artists seem to have streamlined their collaboration and agreed on the composition early on so that these later works show little underdrawing.<ref name=sig>Alex de Voogt and Kees Hommes, ''The signature of leadership - artistic freedom in shared leadership practice'', in: The John Ben Sheppard Journal of Practical Leadership, 1(2):1–5.</ref> As court painters to the archdukes their collaborations reflected the court's desire to emphasise the continuity of its reign with the previous [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundian]] and Habsburg rulers as well as the rulers' piousness. While they were mindful of the prevailing tastes in courtly circles, which favoured subjects such as the hunt, the two artists were creative in their response to the court's preferences by devising new [[iconography]] and genres, such as the devotional garland paintings, which were equally capable of conveying the devoutness and splendour of the archducal court. The joint artistic output of Brueghel and Rubens was highly prized by collectors all over Europe.<ref name=34p/>