Die Sintflut mit der Arche Noah

Executed on copper, the painting benefits from the metal’s smooth surface, allowing fine detail and luminous color. Brueghel employs strong chiaroscuro, contrasting deep shadows with illuminated figures to heighten tension. A restrained palette of dark tones dominates, while selective highlights draw the eye to key actions, reinforcing the Baroque emphasis on drama and movement.

The work was produced by Jan Brueghel the Younger, who inherited his father’s workshop and continued the family’s artistic legacy. After remaining in private hands for centuries, it entered the Kunsthaus Zürich’s holdings, where it is displayed as an example of early 17th‑century Flemish Baroque painting on copper.

At the turn of the 17th century, Flemish artists often rendered biblical narratives with vivid naturalism and theatrical composition. Brueghel the Younger, working within his father’s established studio, adapted these conventions, integrating detailed landscape elements and crowded figures to convey the scale of the Flood, a popular subject in contemporary religious art.