Journey to Noah’s Ark
Ca 1650. Oil on canvas
In the art tradition of Antwerp at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, the great flood in the Old Testament was not depicted as a punishment for sinful mankind; instead, artists focussed on the taxonomic study of animal and bird species. Collections of various natural collectibles and curiosities, organised on encyclopaedic principles, were widespread in Antwerp in the first half of the 17th century, and landscapes with birds and animals were highly appreciated by art collectors.
This tradition in Dutch art was initiated by Jan Brueghel I. He painted the first among such landscapes in 1596. The painting “Journey to Noah’s Ark” at the Kadriorg Art Museum was painted by Lambert de Hondt I in the 1650s. De Hondt’s style is recognisable in the delicate limbs of horses and cows. The composition imitates a painting by Jan van Kessel the Elder from approximately the same period; Jan van Kessel, Brueghel’s pupil and son-in-law, was a renowned bird and insect painter from Antwerp.
Entering Noah’s Ark
Jan Brueghel I (1568–1625). Oil on wood. Szépművészeti, Budapest
