Photograph by Ed Pollard, Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital slr-2010.

A Stone Cartouche with the Virgin and Child, Encircled by a Garland of Flowers

Artist Jan Philips van Thielen (Flemish, 1618 - 1667)

Artist Erasmus Il Quellinus (Flemish, 1607 - 1678)

CultureFlemish

Date1651

MediumOil on copper

Dimensions49 x 37 1/2 in. (124.5 x 95.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 58 1/2 x 47 x 4 in. (148.6 x 119.4 x 10.2 cm)

InscribedSigned on the cartouches below figures: "E. Quellinus". Signed and dated lower left corner: "J.P. van Thielen. [f. Ano.] 165(?)1" (third numeral indistinct, but almost certainly a "5").

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number94.28.1

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 206

DescriptionThis garland painting is "one of the most ambitious and exquisite of these works and surely one of the few significant expressions of the Van Thielen-Quellinus collaboration still outside the public sphere....At the center of the painting Quellinus depicts grisaille sculptures of the Virgin and Christ Child subduing the serpent. The serpent clutches the apple of Original Sin. It is a disarmingly tender image of the Virgin and Child victorious over sin and the devil. Quellinus sets the holy figures in an intricate stone cartouche crowned at the upper corners with a pair of swans.; Van Thielen weaves the cartouches with ivy (an age-old symbol of death, remembrance and eternal life) and a splendid profusion of blooms -- roses, jasmine, daffodils, snow drops, hydrangea, nasturtium, apple blossoms, anemones -- each of which alludes to the virtues or exemplary lives of the Virgin and Child. The bouquet is enlivened with moths and butterflies symbolizing the resurrection of Christ and his triumph over the grave."

Label TextJan Philips van Thielen Flemish, 1618–1667 Erasmus Quellinus II Flemish, 1607–1678 A Stone Cartouche with the Virgin and Child, Encircled by a Garland of Flowers, 1651 Oil on copper Artists of this period often collaborated, bringing their unique talents to bear on a single work of art. Here, the figure painter Erasmus Quellinus II painted an elaborate cartouche while the still-life specialist Jan Philips van Thielen supplied the vivid flowers. Both artists signed the painting. Because the floral arrangement includes both spring and summer blooms, it could never have been assembled in a real-life bouquet. Instead, they form a timeless wreath of honor that symbolizes the eternal virtues of the Virgin and Child and pays tribute to their enduring holiness. Museum purchase 94.28.1 Exhibition History"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25,1996 - February 16, 1997 Published ReferencesJean-Pierre De Bruyn, "Erasmus II Quellinus (1607-1678). Addenda en corrigenda III", JAARBOEK VAN HET KONINKLIJK MUSEUM VOOR SCHONE KUNSTEN (Antwerp, 1994), Fig. 9, p. 193 (b/w ill.); Cat. 7, 194. George Keyes, "New, Restored, and Returned," _HIstorians of Netherlandish Art Newsletter_, (November 1997, Vol. 14, No. 2), 14. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 29, fig. 21. Jean-Pierre De Bruyn, et. al., _Érasme Quellin: Dans le sillage de Rubens_ (Cassel, France: Snoeck, 2014) 120.