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Old Masters paintings, 16th, 17th and 18th furnitures and works of art
Joseph VAN BREDAEL (Antwerp, 1688 — Paris, 1739)
Winter Landscape
Oil on panel, 22.5 x 30.5 cm
This painting depicts a lively winter landscape dominated by a village of compact houses with snow-covered roofs, nestled at the foot of rolling hills. The clear sky, streaked with light clouds and flocks of birds, bathes the scene in a cold, diffuse light, while the bare trees emphasise the harshness of the season.
In the foreground, peasants, travellers and horse-drawn carts struggle along a frozen path, pulling carts or leading loaded horses. These figures, captured in their daily activities, breathe life and movement into the composition and bear witness to a rural world that remains active despite the constraints of winter, in an atmosphere that is both realistic and peaceful.
Joseph van Bredael was a Flemish painter who specialised in Italianate landscapes and genre scenes depicting villages, fairs, markets and battles. Born into an important dynasty of Antwerp artists, he was trained by his father, Joris van Bredael, and immersed himself early on in the pictorial tradition inherited from Jan Brueghel the Elder and Philips Wouwerman.
From a young age, he worked as a copyist for art dealers, producing high-quality copies that were sometimes difficult to distinguish from the originals. This activity had a lasting influence on his style, which was based on the assimilation and reinterpretation of 17th-century models. He adapted the Brueghelian aesthetic to the tastes of his time, adding a personal touch in the drawing of figures and the finesse of his brushwork.
Van Bredael mainly painted animated landscapes, paying meticulous attention to detail and spatial construction. His compositions, often organised in successive planes, are characterised by a soft palette dominated by bluish and brown tones. His precise, almost miniaturist execution earned him a reputation as one of the best followers of Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Joseph van Bredael settled in France at the end of his life, where he became a member of the Royal Academy of the Duke of Orleans, and died in Paris in 1739. His success can be measured in particular by the repetition of certain compositions, which he produced in several very similar versions.
