Nymphs filling the horn of plenty

Nymphs Filling the Horn of Plenty, dated 1615 and in the Mauritshuis, depicts female figures — nymphs or allegorical personifications — filling a cornucopia with flowers, fruit, and natural abundance. The cornucopia, or horn of plenty, was one of the most versatile allegorical symbols available to a Baroque painter: associated with Fortuna, Ceres, Abundance, and the blessings of good government, it served simultaneously as a vehicle for Brueghel's most elaborate still-life display and as a repository of political meaning for his Archduke patrons. The Mauritshuis, which holds several Brueghel works in dialogue with its Dutch Golden Age masterpieces, acquired this as part of its representation of Flemish Baroque painting. The composition allowed Brueghel to combine his expertise in figure painting (nymphs as elegant, classically-inflected female forms), flower still life (the blooms being gathered), and fruit/vegetable still life (the horn's contents) in a single unified composition.

Oil on panel, the figures of the nymphs are likely painted by a collaborating hand — possibly Hendrick van Balen — while Brueghel's contribution is the surrounding landscape and the extraordinarily detailed floral and fruit accumulation within and around the cornucopia. The horn's overflowing contents are rendered with the same botanical and horticultural precision as his dedicated still-life works.