BRUEGHEL, Jan the Younger
(b. 1601, Antwerpen, d. 1678, Antwerpen)

Allegory of the Four Elements

c. 1630
Oil on panel transferred to canvas, 52 x 66 cm
Private collection

The landscape and the still-life elements are the work of Jan Brueghel the Younger, while the figures are by Frans Francken II. The figures may be identified as the Nereid Amphitrite, who holds a shell and represents Water, the Muse Urania, who holds an Armillary Sphere symbolic of Air, the goddess Vesta, whose brazier signifies Fire, and lastly the goddess Ceres with her traditional cornucopia, as the Element of Earth.

There are other versions of the painting with similar landscape settings but different figure groups.