Pieter Brueghel the Younger

With Galerie Sanct Lucas, Vienna;
Mrs. Arthur Corwin, Greenwich, Connecticut;
With Newhouse Galleries, New York;
From whom purchased by the present collector in 1972.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in lovely condition. It may have been originally painted on two pieces of oak joined horizontally slightly below center. The panel may have subsequently been thinned and mounted on to a large piece of oak, which has in turn been surrounded by oak strips. One would have to remove the thin strips of wood around the edges to confirm this theory. Regardless, the surface is stable, and the painting is flat. There are a few restorations running horizontally along what may be the original panel join as described above. It can be seen that these retouches have slightly darkened, for instance between the head on the woman on the far left and the man with the red cap. Following this line, one can also see slightly darker passages of restoration through the diagonal flower beds on the right side. There are also some small retouches that are very difficult to read under ultraviolet light, but these are not focused on any particular area and do not seem to attend to more than the small losses one would expect. There are two main concerns with these pictures, instability and over-cleaning, neither of which is an issue here. Even the thinnest brown colors on the wall of the house in the upper right quadrant are completely un-abraded. The picture could be cleaned, which would let it brighten and acquire more depth, but it can also be hung in its current condition, which is extremely good.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Although many versions of this subject by Pieter Breughel the Younger are recorded, this previously unpublished picture appears to be one of the finest to re-emerge on the market in years. Extant versions are known from as early as 1621, and it seems he continued to produce the composition on a consistent basis, as four further examples are dated from 1622, 1624, 1633, and 1635.¹  As with so many of Pieter Breughel the Younger's pictures, the design originates with his father, in the form of a finished drawing, now in the Albertina, Vienna. All of Pieter Breughel the Younger's versions of the composition are in reverse to his father's drawing, and thus probably follow the engraving produced by Hieronymous Cock's studio, for which the drawing was made. It is possible, however, that Pieter Breughel the Younger had access to a full-scale cartoon made in his father's workshop, since nearly all of the younger Breughel's treatments of the composition are on panels of very similar size, and the elements of the composition correspond closely in each. An alternative explanation for this phenomenon is that Pieter Breughel the Younger himself made a cartoon for use in his workshop, based on Hieronymus Cock's print. Even the 1621 picture², which is Breughel's earliest known version, is not the first treatment of the composition, as Abel Grimmer painted a free copy of Cock's print in 1607 (Antwerp, Museum voor Schone Kunsten; other undated versions by Grimmer are known). 

1. K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564 - 1637/38), Lingen 2000, vol. II, pp. 589-90.
2. Formerly in the collection of Otto Wesendock, Zurich; by whose family sold London, Sotheby's, 10 July 2003, lot 11.