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This tapestry depicts within an architectural frame an allegorical representation of the Four Elements and Chronos from a series of ten with the Months, Seasons and Elements. It was designed by Jan van den Hoecke and executed in Brussels by Everaert Leyniers.
In around 1645 van den Hoecke worked in Vienna in the service of the Habsburg court. He returned to the Netherlands in the late 1640s to settle in Brussels as court painter to the Spanish governor, the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, in whose service he painted most of his work. To a large extent this consisted of allegorical and mythological pictures, the most important of which were the cartoons for the set of tapestries of the twelve months. This late work displays a strong classicist trend, clearly influenced by the artistic ideas he had picked up in Italy. It shows a particular affinity with Guido Reni's later paintings.
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