Fleeing Love. The emblems and landscape of a new painting by Otto van Veen

Abstract

Anonymous for centuries a major canvas is attributed to Otto van Veen on the basis of a body of research. By its composition, models and style the painting is associated with his recognised oeuvre; and further compared to the Hercules and the Hydra in Budapest Fine Arts Museum, and The dead Christ from the church of Saint-Waudru in Mons, Belgium, among others. The subject of the painting is related to the emblem books that Van Veen actively produced. The verses of Propertius’ Elegies quoted at the bottom right of the canvas reflect the deep knowledge of classical literature resulting from the painter’s humanistic learning, whilst warning against the futility of escaping love. A moral message attached to the ideals of Neostoicism founded by his close friend Justus Lipsius. Regarding the execution of the landscape, the possibility of the intervention of another hand is excluded given Van Veen’s inclination to the genre, and the lack of documented evidence of such collaborations. The discovery of this painting adds to the relatively limited production of the master known in Spain to date.

Keywords

• Otto van Veen (Vaenius), Pintura flamenca, siglo XVI, Emblemática, Paisaje