Jan Brueghel The Younger was the son of “Velvet” Brueghel, by whom he was considerably influenced.  Brueghel II painted landscapes, allegories, religious subjects, flower pieces and still lifes.  Jan Brueghel received the earliest training from his father in Antwerp.  In 1622, Brueghel visited Milan with an introduction to Cardinal Federico Borromeo, an important friend and patron of his farther.  He subsequently visited Genoa and Palermo.  At the beginning of 1625, he learned of hi sfather’s death and returned to Antwerp in order to take over his studio. 

 Jan Brueghel became a master of the Guild of St. Luke in 1625 and married the daughter of the painter Abraham Janssens in 1626.  He became a Dean of the Chamaber of Rhetoric in 1630.  During this period he was also appointed Dean of the Painter’s Guild.

Like his father, Brueghel often collaborated on paintings with other artists, including Henrik van Balen, Peter Paul Rubens and Josse de Momper.  Moreover, he was often responsible for the ornamentation in paintings by Rubens, Jansens and van Balen.  

The work of Jan Brueghel The Younger, as with many of his family including his uncles Pieter the Elder and Pieter the Younger. is represented at important museums all over the world.

 This composition probably derives from a lost prototype by Jan Brueghel I.  Several of the birds in this painting can be found in Jan Brueghel I’s Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, painted in collaboration with Rubens and also in a study of birds by Jan Brueghel II, which was doubtless based on examples by his father.