Filling the frame of this decadent allegory sits a robust woman holding a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables: apples, pears, grapes, artichokes, corn, and gourds, to name a few. The painting is segmented by a heavy red fabric lifted to reveal local farmers toiling in the fading light over the crop fields. Abundance permeates this scene; from the produce, which speaks to the season, to the fabrics draped, pinned, and swathed over Summer herself. Indeed, this painting is a cacophony of colours, shapes, and textures. Natural beauty is complemented by the bright edges of the jewels embedded in gold worn by Summer. Her headdress is made of a tiara embellished with a square-cut diamond, wheat, flowers, strawberries, and overflowing vegetation. Summer’s auburn hair is tied loosely atop her head with a few strands flowing down her front. The soft gold and reds of her locks bring out the pink of her cheeks and lips, as she grasps a sickle firmly - clearly not an idle hand during the seasonal gathering.

Abraham Janssens II was born to Abraham Janssens I (1575 – 1632) and Sara Goetkint (d. April 1644). The couple had eight children before Sara’s death, five of whom survived her. Like her brother, the couple’s daughter Maria Anna became a painter and later married Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601 – 1678), who collaborated with her father on several artistic ventures. Janssens the Elder travelled to Italy – and resided in Rome – between 1597 and 1602, so it very likely that his large religious and mythological works were influenced by the revered Michelangelo Mersi da Caravaggio (1571 – 1610). In 1607 he took on the role of Dean in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke and, until the return of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640) in 1608, he was considered the leading history painter of his time. Nikolaus Pevsner argues that Janssens the Elder was at his creative peak between 1605 and 1615, for it was during these years that “he was strong enough to create out of the elements of late Mannerism and the new constructive intensity of Caravaggio a noble classicism all his own. He felt free and at ease until Rubens’s overpowering passion began to transform the School of Antwerp.”[1] It was in this environment that Abraham Janssens II trained with his father and after his death in 1632 took over the workshop. Around 1636 he became a Master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke and worked as an art dealer. Akin to his father, and other creatives of the period, he travelled to Rome to study ancient sculpture as well as the creative genius of Michelangelo (1475 – 1564) and Raphael (1483 – 1520). He remained in the city for approximately ten years and developed his practice. His work at times deviates from his father’s tenebrist style and instead tends towards the soft fleshy tones of Rubens. In the present painting this creative dialogue takes shape in the sculptural solidity of Summer’s form – reminiscent of Michelangelo – the dynamism of the fabric and flesh – as explored by Rubens – and the bold use of light and dark – explored by Caravaggio and, more closely Janssens the Elder.[2]

The title Allegory of Summer suggests our painting was once part of group; and, indeed, the Four Seasons was an exceedingly popular subject in the mid-seventeenth century. Furthermore, the female personification of the seasons was popular within the Janssens workshop and there exists several variants of similar subject matter attributed to both the Elder and Younger Janssens.[3] These paintings tend to follow a similar template: a seated female figure occupies the centre of the picture frame and in the background a piece of fabric is lifted to reveal a landscape beyond. This format must have been incredibly popular as other allegorical paintings – beyond the four seasons - survive, which feature a prominent seated figure by the Janssens workshop. Didier Bobart explores the artist’s style in the Allegory of Peace in vertical format, where, like our painting, Peace holds a horn of abundance – highlighting how the artists repeated designs in their compositions. He notes the contrasts of light and shade, and the use of deep sombre tints, specifically brick red (Fig. 1). Although only reproduced in black and white, the red described by Bobart features prominently in our Allegory of Summer.

Other paintings in this putative series are known through surviving examples cited in George Weber’s entry on the artist and a handful have appeared at auction. An Allegory of Spring appeared at Sotheby’s London, November 2015, and again at Lempertz in 2017 (Fig. 2). Notably this painting appears to be of similar quality to ours. Although at this time the attribution to Janssens the Younger was rejected and reattributed to the circle of his Father.[4] An ‘Allegory of Autumn’ appeared at Sotheby’s New York in 1992 and it has been suggested by Dr Fred Meijer that the flowers in this work could have been painted by Janssens’ sister, Anna Maria.[5] Again alluding to the family’s collaborative workshop approach. A set of four seasons catalogued as “After Abraham Janssens” appeared on the market in 2004 through Sotheby’s (Fig. 3). The depiction of Spring and Summer – though of far less quality, and notably on canvas rather than panel – are the same composition as the known autograph works by Janssens. We of course cannot say with any degree of certainty that the images of Autumn and Winter are a clear indication of the lost originals; however, these paintings do offer a path for further research into this four-piece puzzle.

Returning to attribution, George Weber catalogued our painting as part of the circle of Abraham Janssens II, making specific reference to the fact that it was possibly based on a lost work by his father.[6] In many ways, it seems likely a series was completed by Janssens the Elder and the template reproduced by his progeny and workshop.[7] We know Janssens the Elder completed an allegorical series of the seasons, though there are two noticeable differences between this known set by Janssens the Elder and our painting: firstly, the presence of the Zodiac signs, and secondly the figural grouping (Fig. 4). The present composition exists in two known additional examples – by a similar hand – including one of comparable, though slightly narrower, dimensions on panel, and another smaller version on canvas (Museum Schloss Rheydt, Mönchengladbach). Weber describes our portrait as a ‘recht qualitätvolle’ meaning ‘very high quality’ version of the original. Arguably we see the artist working through the facial type, or at the very least simply repeating the one he was happy with, in bust-length versions/studies. In these head studies, the women have the same tilt to their head and are dressed in costume taken from both allegories of Spring and Summer (Figs 5 & 6). The study of Flora, which is attributed in full to Janssens the Younger, is similar in style, composition and quality to both our painting and the Allegory of Spring at Lempertz (Fig. 2).

[1] N. Pevsner, ‘Some Notes on Abraham Janssens’, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 69, no. 402, 1936, p. 129.

[2] Didier Bobart argues against Pevsner’s approach to Janssens and a “Caravaggesque style” and instead speaks of a “direction of style where traces of Flemish and Dutch mannerism are fused with tendency towards greater naturalism; in short, a manner which can be more satisfactorily defined as neo-Romanist than Caravaggesque”. He argues that The Allegory of Peace, painted in 1614, is the best example of this style. D. Bodart, 'The Allegory of Peace by Abraham Janssens', Burlington Magazine 118 (1976), 308 - 311.

[3] Nikolaus Pevsner notes how Janssens had a “predilection for allegories”.

N. Pevsner, ‘Some Notes on Abraham Janssens’, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 69, no. 402, 1936, pp. 120–29. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/866683. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.

[4]https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/record?filters[kunstenaar]=Janssens,+Abraham+(II)&query=&start=0

[5] F.G. Meijer and A. Van der Willigen, A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still-Life painters working in oils, 1525–1725, Leyden 2003, p. 117.

[6] G. Weber, 'Weitere Erkenntnisse zu Gemälden in Schloß Rheydt: Werkgruppe ohne Künstlernamen. IV. Die Rekonstruktion einer Serie der Vier Jahreszeiten aus dem Kreis von Abraham Janssens', Rheydter Jahrbuch, XXI, 1994, p. 211, as 'recht qualitätvolle'.

[7] Christie’s London sold an ‘Allegory of Spring’ in 2012 and in the catalogue entry noted that a full set was in the collection of Count Golenistchev-Kouttousov in Russia by the beginning of the 20th century. https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5586305