How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
Air is represented here by the figure of Astronomy, seen with her orrery (a device to indicate the movement and relative position of planets) and flocks of exotic birds. According to Aristotelian science, the four elements were the basic components of the material world, each of which corresponded to one of the humours of the human body. Many versions of sets of allegorical depictions of the four elements came out of the Brueghels' Antwerp studio. The sets were popular in Italy, particularly with their patron Cardinal Federico Borromeo (1564–1631), Archbishop of Milan and founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, and his assistant Ercole Bianchi, who enjoyed a set with naked figures. In Spain, Philip IV distributed sets among the ladies of the court.
This work was painted during Jan Brueghel the elder's lifetime by his son and studio assistant. This set was not recorded at Kingston Lacy until 1905 and was probably bought by the widow of Walter Ralph Bankes.
Title
The Four Elements: Air
Date
c.1625/1632
Medium
oil on copper
Measurements
H 47.5 x W 82.5 cm
Accession number
1257084
Acquisition method
bequeathed by Ralph Bankes, 1981
Work type
Painting
