Neptune and the Fishes

Neptune and the Fishes, dated 1680 and now at the Royal Society of Medicine in London — a date that falls well after Jan Brueghel the Elder's death in 1625 — is almost certainly a workshop continuation or an attribution to Jan Brueghel the Younger or a follower. The subject of Neptune surrounded by marine life allowed artists in the Brueghel tradition to demonstrate mastery of aquatic natural history: fish, shells, crustaceans, and seahorses rendered with the same precision applied to terrestrial animals. The Royal Society of Medicine's collection is an unexpected venue for a Baroque painting, and the work probably entered the collection through donation from a physician-collector in the eighteenth or nineteenth century.

Canvas; the later date and canvas support differ from Jan the Elder's preferred copper. The technique, if by the Younger or workshop, tends toward broader handling than the Elder's miniaturist precision. Neptune is likely surrounded by fish and marine creatures rendered with the Brueghel workshop's reliable animal-painting formula.