Narcissus Returning from the Hunt

Although this work is signed and dated (Jean Bruegel, 1620), discrepancies in the traditional spelling of the artist’s name merit reconsideration of the authenticity of the signature. In addition, the date is inconsistent with Jan Breughel’s oeuvre from that period. The closest stylistic analogy to this painting is found in the work of the Flemish artist Paul Bril, who spent most of his career in Rome and was extremely influential in the history of landscape painting. The myth of Narcissus is found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, written about 1 A.D.  Narcissus was a youth who fell in love with his own reflection while gazing into a pool of water.