Adriaen van Stalbemt (Anvers, 1580- 1662) - Allegory of war & peace

Adriaen van Stalbemt (Antwerp, 1580-1662)
Allegory of Peace and War, circa 1620-1630
Oil on oak panel: h. 49.5 cm, l. 73.2cm
Giltwood frame with laurel leaves, Louis XIII period, 17th century
Framed dimensions: h. 64, l. 92cm

Our painting has been examined by Dr Klaus Ertz, author of the catalog raisonné of the painter (Adriaen van Stalbemt (1580 - 1662) Oeuvrekatalog der Gemalde und Zeichnungen. Klaus Ertz, Christa Nitze-Ertz. Edited by Luca Verlag Lingen 2018).
The certificate of expertise by Dr Ertz will be handed over to the buyer.


Setting up a complex composition, Adrien Van Stalbemt merges in our work mythological characters like Venus and Cupid, puttis with allegorical symbols associated with war and peace as well as a contemporary pastoral tragicomedy at the time of the painting "The Faithful Shepherd", composed by Giovani Battista Guarini (published 1602)
Thus our table with encrypted design was intended for initiated, erudite and cultivated customers, flattered to recognize the symbolism and decipher the intertwined subjects.
The presence of Venus and Cupid in the center of the painting and in the heart of the verdant landscape encourages us in the first place to approach the subject as purely mythological. However, the puttis who seem to be having fun on each side carry an allegorical message.
The putto topped with many snakes, like the head of Medusa, the death mask, the flaming torch, the sword and the handcuffs evoke "war", while the putto holding a white dove announces "peace" . On the right side the puttis have fun blowing soap bubbles and personify the allegory of Vanity (vanity of earthly things, but also the transience of human life).
Finally, the characters of the tragicomedy "Faithful Pastor" also populate this lush landscape.
The couple near the goddess are the shepherd Myrthille and the nymph Amaryllis, Myrthille holds the flaming heart, symbol of their love and their impending marriage (their marriage serves to lift a spell cast by the gods of Arcadia in the poem).
A few scenes in the background, some barely sketched, like a comic book tell us the episodes of the story of the "Faithful Pastor".
The landscape revolves around the characters and serves as their background, but the artist's great skill in handling his brush and using all the shades of green in his palette embellishes our work with intense foliage.
Our work with its outstanding landscape and finely executed figures is a fine example of the art of Adrien Van Stalbemt.
Faithful to his reputation as one of the most accomplished Flemish landscape painters of his time, one of the best followers of Jan Brueghel the Elder, the painter impresses with his figurative virtuosity and the subtlety of his imagination.
Adriaen van Stalbemt
Adriaen van Stalbemt spent his youth in Middelburg before returning to his native Antwerp, where he became master of the Guild of Saint Luke around 1609-1610. His meticulous landscape art owes much to that of Jan Brueghel the Elder, with whom he collaborated regularly, creating the figures within the landscapes of the master. Adriaen Van Stalbemt is both a landscape painter as well as a painter of figures. the artist being one of the rare painters of his time to master several genres of painting. Like Jan Brueghel, Stalbemt's production is mainly made up of landscapes, plains or undergrowth sheltering religious or mythological episodes.