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 (act. Antwerp, 1571-1585). Exhibition: “Reality, time and artifice. Still life and vanitas in Baroque culture” (21 October 2021 to 30 January 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 showing, in the foreground, a naked child figure and a scene in the background on the right, with a landscape of trees and rocks only partially visible. The child is seated on a pedestal, protected by a cloth, and is carrying a branch in his right arm, which is resting on an hourglass; he rests his right foot on a skull; his left arm is held out straight, directing the viewer's gaze towards the scene. This has Christ cut out against a rocky figure, half-naked and with a halo; below, there are various male figures (some reclining, others barely visible), among which the one with his back to the viewer stands out, a soldier who covers his face with his own shield. Both the hourglass and the skull are common elements in allegories related to the passage of time since the Renaissance, usually reinforced with some Christian scene or allusion (here, the Resurrection to the right). Thus, the meaning provided would be very close to a very common and well-known Baroque genre such as “Memento Mori” (remember that you are going to die), shown both in the form of allegories and still lifes. Compare the infant figure with the infant St. John from the “Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John” in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, dated between 1590 and 1600, for similarities and differences. Also the figure of the Risen Christ with the engraving by Hieronymus Wierix after Jacob de Backer that 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. He is believed to have trained with Antonio van Palermo and Hendrik van Steenwijk and to have been strongly influenced by Vasari's High Mannerism, despite not having travelled to Italy. Despite the little that is known about his life, the engravings that emerged from his works are always notable, and his production 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 in some notable private collections.

· Size: 57x6x73 cms.int; 43x57 cms.