June with the sign of Cancer
Painter: Jan Kamphuijsen
Year:
Medium: oil on panel
Description: As the caption at the bottom states, the subject of this painting is the month of June. The sign of the constellation Cancer is depicted on a relief with a black fond. Mercury, patron god of June, is identified by the Pegasus, cadaceus and purse. The rooster symbolizes his wakefulness, the ram refers to his role as protector of shepherds and flocks and the racket with shuttle to his patronage of sports.
The rooster is taken from the tapestry series designed by Claude III Audran (1658-1734) around 1709, Le Douze Mois Grotesques, which was printed by Jean Audran (1667-1756). On the print depicting the months of May and June, in addition to a rooster, May also features a ram, merchandise and rackets, of which Maderna painted his own interpretation. A second source of inspiration was Le antichità di Ercolano esposte (Naples 1757-1792). The woman with the tambourine was copied from this in detail (dl. 1 (1757), p. 109).
This is the only painting in the series that refers to Josephus Augustus Brentano (1753-1821), the patron. The letters B.C. on one of the pockets stand for the merchant house Brentano & Comp. The poodle, ridden by a putto, also has personal significance. That Brentano was fond of his poodle is evidenced by Maderna's life-size portrait of him and his pet, the mantelpiece in the great hall, where the pilaster panels discussed here adorned the walls (Brentano's Stichting Steun des Ouderdoms, Amstelveen).
This painting is part of a series of pilaster panels (SK-A-4142 to SK-A-4150) commissioned by Josephus Augustus Brentano (1753-1821) for his house Herengracht 544.
