Abel Grimmer (Anvers 1570-1619), Le Printemps.
This animated composition shows an allegory of Spring, and has its origins in a drawing by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1569), now in the Albertina, Vienna (inv. 23.750). Dated 1565, the drawing was commissioned as part of a set of the seasons by the Antwerp publisher and engraver Hyeronimus Cock (1518-1570). Bruegel chose to illustrate the season of rebirth through work in the gardens, preparing the way for summer blooms. The geometric layout of the beds follows the French style employed on noble estates. The flowerbeds were laid out in a variety of ways, with the flowers changing with the months. The flowers and plants, at that date charged with symbolism, were chosen to illustrate the a variety of things, from the greatness of a prince to the humanist virtues garden's owner.
Though a simple scene at first glance, it contains certain art historical quotations. For example, the historian Marlier points out that the figure of the peasant on the left of the composition, digging his spade into the clay with his foot, pays homage to a figure in the same posture, painted by Michelangelo (1475-1564) for the Drunkenness of Noah on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 219).
Although the series of seasons was not completed by Bruegel the Elder, who only executed Spring and Summer (1568), it was finished by the artist Hans Bol (1534-1593) and much admired thanks to the engravings of Pieter van der Heyden (1530-1572). Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1570-1619) and Abel Grimmer (1570-1619) made several versions of the present composition and others in the series. Of particular note is the complete set of the Four Seasons by Abel Grimmer in the Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (inv. 831), which are similar in size to the present painting.
Though Brueghel the Younger often took liberties when reworking his father's compositions, such as in his versions of Summer, where the colours become noticeably brighter, Abel Grimmer remained extremely faithful to the original compositions, working in the more muted tones of Bruegel the Elder that were closer to those of manuscript illuminations. The distinctive qualities of Abel Grimmer's style can be felt very clearly in this painting, which gives pride of place to unbroken planes of colour juxtaposed with the texture of the flowerbeds, the architecture and the verdant garden. The clarity of the flowerbeds is punctuated by the figures, enhanced by quick brushstrokes that delicately highlight differences in clothing, physiognomy and expression. The excellent state of conservation of the painting allows the blue and violet tones typical of the painter, also seen in his ambitious series of the months of the year painted at the end of the 16th century, to be fully appreciated.
