Focus on this artwork and explore the Composition.
The painting depicts a large room in which many persons and various art and other objects are present. An unknown Flemish collector accompanies Isabella (seated) and her husband, Albert, who stands behind her. The composition likely does not represent closely any actual occasion. The walls are covered by paintings by Flemish artists and there are also numerous sculptures including the bronze Allegory of Architecture by Giambologna.The painting contains representations of the wonders of the natural world (animals, plants, and minerals), along with examples of human creativity (painting and sculpture), and attributes of the five senses. As such the composition represents the early phase of the genre of collector's cabinets.  During this early ‘encyclopaedic’ phase, the genre reflected the culture of curiosity of that time, when art works, scientific instruments, naturalia and artificialia were equally the object of study and admiration and the cabinets depicted are populated by persons who were as interested in discussing scientific instruments as in admiring paintings.The painting propped against the chair at the center, Allegory of Iconoclasm depicts an ass, a cat, a fool, and an ape (symbols of ignorance and evil) destroying musical instruments, paintings, and scientific instruments. The painting over the mantel depicts an allegory of Painting being rescued by Wisdom and Fame from Ignorance. The dog, on the left side, appears to have two heads which is a result of the underpainting coming through the surface. The globe on the table at the left is one of Cornelis Drebbels' attempts at a perpetual-motion clock. The large vase of flowers, at the far left corner, is Jan Brueghel's contribution to the painting. The flower arrangement is crowned by a large sunflower (Helianthus annuus), an American flower which can grow to 14 feet tall and turns toward the sun. A recent arrival in Europe, the flower had been illustrated in botanical books, but this is its earliest inclusion in a painting. It is shown turning toward Albert and Isabella instead of toward the sun.
Iconoclasm Helianthus annuus Cornelis Drebbel left Isabella Cornelis Drebbels' Albert Giambologna