Feast of the Gods
by BALEN, Hendrick van, Oil on copper, 11 x 15 cm
This small painting was created by a collaboration between Hendrick van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Elder. The former painted the figures, the latter the landscape and the still-life elements. The painting may represent the wedding banquet of Peleus and Thetis, the parents of the Greek hero Achilles, which was attended by the gods of Olympus.
Van Balen painted this subject on a number of occasions, some in collaboration with Jan Brueghel the Elder.