ALLEGORY OF TIME. OIL ON BOARD. CIRCLE OF JACOB DE BACKER (ACT. 1571-1585).

Allegory of Time. Oil on panel. Circle of Jacob de Backer (active Antwerp, 1571-1585). Exhibition: “Reality, time and artifice. Still life and vanitas in Baroque culture” (October 21, 2021 to January 30, 2022), Caja de Burgos Foundation, Cultural Cordón (Palace of the Constables of Castile), Burgos. Bibliography: brochure and catalogue of the aforementioned exhibition. Oil on panel depicting, in the foreground, a nude child and a scene in the background to the right, with a partially visible landscape of trees and rocks. The child sits on a pedestal, covered with a cloth, holding a branch in his right arm, which rests on an hourglass; his right foot rests on a skull; his left arm is outstretched, drawing the viewer's gaze to the scene. This scene features Christ silhouetted against a rocky form, semi-nude and with a halo; below, several male figures appear (some reclining, others barely visible), among whom the most prominent is a soldier with his back to the viewer, covering his face with his own shield. Both the hourglass and the skull are common elements in allegories related to the passage of time, dating back to the Renaissance, and are often reinforced with a Christian scene or allusion (here, the Resurrection on the right). Thus, the meaning conveyed would be very close to a well-known and common Baroque genre: the "Memento Mori" (remember that you will die), depicted in both allegorical and still-life forms. Compare the infant figure with the St. John the Baptist in the "Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist" in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, dated between 1590 and 1600, to see similarities and differences. Also compare the figure of the Risen Christ with the engraving by Hieronymus Wierix, following Jacob de Backer, which was published by Hans van Luck around 1580-1590 (British Museum, London). Jacob de Backer, or Jacques de Backer, was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp between 1571 and 1585. It is believed he trained under Antonio van Palermo and Hendrik van Steenwijk, and his work shows a marked influence of Vasari's High Mannerism, despite never having traveled to Italy. Although little is known about his life, the engravings based on his paintings are always noteworthy, a body of work that focused on religious subjects and allegories. His work is preserved in institutions such as the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, the Hermitage Museum, the Royal Monastery of El Escorial (Madrid, Spain), the Getty Center (Los Angeles, USA), the Leuven Museum (Belgium), the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (Texas, USA), the National Museum in Warsaw (Poland), etc., and some outstanding private collections.

· Size: 57x6x73 cms.int; 43x57 cms.