Flowers in a Vase with a Clump of Cyclamen and Precious Stones: A Gem of a Painting by Jan Brueghel I (1568-1625)

Daffodils, pink roses with heads bowed, an orange lily, flaming tulips, bright blue irises and dozens of other flowers fill the painting. The variety of flowers and the bright colors are magnificent and appear to burst out of the panel. Flowers in a Vase with a Clump of Cyclamen and Precious Stones is a masterpiece by one of the most important painters from the late 16th and early 17th centuries: Jan Brueghel I (1568-1625). Although people would also call him ’Flower Brueghel’, he only began painting vases of flowers in his late thirties. Flowers in a Vase with a Clump of Cyclamen and Precious Stones is one of the earliest and finest examples, a stunning masterpiece through which this Phoebus Focus zooms in on the sources of inspiration, motivation and method of the master who concentrated on all this floral beauty with such dedication and precision.

Sven Van Dorst (1990) gained his master’s degree in conservation and restoration from the Royal Academy/University of Antwerp. After working at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, he completed his training at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, a department of Cambridge University. In 2016 he founded the conservation studio of The Phoebus Foundation. As head of the studio, Sven assembled a team of passionate conservators and conservation scientists who manage the Foundation’s collection on a daily basis. Among the paintings he has treated are works by masters such as Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Anthonis Mor and Michaelina Wautier. Between 2017 and 2020, Sven led the research and restoration project of the St Dymphna Altarpiece by Goossen Van der Weyden.