Garland of Flowers

The painting represents a garland of flowers surrounding a scene of the Guardian Angel. The central scene is by Guillaume Courtois who came to Rome in 1638 and is known to have collaborated with Brueghel on numerous still-lifes from the 1660s and '70s. Courtois is thought to have begun working under Cortona in Rome in 1656, the year when Cortona executed his Guardian Angel which inspired Courtois to paint the central scene of the present painting.