Painting: A Group Enterprise
The notion of originality only really appeared in the 19th Century. Before that, large studios did not hesitate to use specialists. The final work combined the talents of several painters, often easily identifiable. In the Low Countries, a flourishing art market and an abundance of painters specialising in a single genre favoured works produced by several artists.
In the Vierge du rosaire (Virgin with Rosary), it is easy to identify the hand of Jan van Kessel (or a member of his studio) in the garland of flowers, while that of Frans Francken III, the youngest of a large dynasty of painters, is evident in the figures.
Jan Breughel de Velours initially created this style, where a wreath of flowers is used to frame a medallion which depicts a story. The style went on to flourish throughout the 17th Century, and it was in this form that the Marianne imagery so dear to the Counter-Reformation was introduced into private picture galleries. For this picture, van Kessel drew decorative flowers from botanical plates, amongst which were fifteen small tondi featuring the mysteries of the rosary, contributed by Francken.
The two pendants representing the Amours tressant une guirlande (Lovers Weaving a Garland) are the fruit of a collaboration between three painters: the still life specialist Gillemans, the landscape painter P Ryckaert, a member of a large family of artists, and the almost-unknown François Liberti. At this, the beginning of the 18th Century, the intention was clearly decorative and the artists' aim was to rival one another in virtuosity rather than to produce a perfectly consistent work.
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