# Allegory of the Four Elements

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/allegory-of-the-four-elements-r52d0a60b42e97d>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [BRUEGHEL, Jan the Younger](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e>)
- Date: 1601-1650
- Technique: Oil on panel transferred to canvas, 52 x 66 cm

## Commentary

Allegory of the Four Elements c. 1630 Oil on panel transferred to canvas, 52 x 66 cm Private collection The landscape and the still-life elements are the work of Jan Brueghel the Younger, while the figures are by Frans Francken II. The figures may be identified as the Nereid Amphitrite, who holds a shell and represents Water, the Muse Urania, who holds an Armillary Sphere symbolic of Air, the goddess Vesta, whose brazier signifies Fire, and lastly the goddess Ceres with her traditional cornucopia, as the Element of Earth. There are other versions of the painting with similar landscape settings but different figure groups.

## Related artworks

- [Allegory of War](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/allegory-of-war-rd0b1f638fe8443>)
- [Flora](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/flora-r5b24cdb066bace>)
- [Holy Family Framed with Flowers](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/holy-family-framed-with-flowers-r2c86943caf2828>)
- [Landscape with Travelers and Bittern Hunter](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/landscape-with-travelers-and-bittern-hunter-rc1587a1dab28df>)
- [Paradise \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/paradise-detail-re6a5019e5f49ef>)
- [Paradise](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/paradise-r9ea8527ae88380>)
- [River Landscape](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/river-landscape-rc09191c6230672>)
- [Still-Life of Flowers in a Basket on a Stone Ledge](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/still-life-of-flowers-in-a-basket-on-a-stone-ledge-r2591f7fac2fd51>)
- [Still-Life of Flowers](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/still-life-of-flowers-rae5ac6f4444954>)
- [Still-Life of the Holy Kinship](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/still-life-of-the-holy-kinship-r971e0875fa9d05>)
- [Still-Life](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/still-life-r211cd0f6685668>)
- [The Holy Family within a Garland](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/brueghel-jan-the-younger-re6b8970a6d5a2e/the-holy-family-within-a-garland-r835b37a06da71d>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)