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Jan Massys, the eldest son of Quentin Massys, painted Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers in 1559. As if bestowing her blessing of fertility, she holds three carnations above a landscape highlighted by the skyline of Antwerp. The red and white blooms allude to the city's colours. The spires of the cathedral and,, by her elbow, the abbey of St Michael are visible. Closer examination reveals that the river Scheldt is filled with ships, ranging from seagoing galleys to smaller vessels capable of navigating the region's canals and rivers. Flora sits in a garden of a suburban villa.
Massys's picture is an allegory of Antwerp's prosperity and peace. Massy showed the city at its economic and artistic peak just before the political and religious troubles of the mid-1560s and 1570s. He alluded too to the city's artistic sophistication. The voluptuous goddess was inspired by the nudes of the Fontainebleau school. Flora's pose, however, mimics the Sleeping Ariadne, a second-century Roman statue in the Vatican.
The panoramic vista may have been executed by Jan's younger brother, Cornelis, who specialized in landscapes, just as Jan favoured figure painting.
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