Jan Brueghel the Younger

Dr. G. Descamps, Brussels;
With Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Amsterdam;
Dr. Hans Wetzlar, Amsterdam, by 1968;
Wetzlar sale, 1977, lot 26, when bought back.

Laren, 1968/69, no. 6, reproduced plate 12 (as Jan Breughel the Elder).

K. Ertz, Jan Breughel the Younger (1601-1678), Freren 1984, p. 502, no. 332, reproduced;
Voorkeuren, p. 22, reproduced p. 23.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is in good condition with one small horizontal split, lower left, which needs attention. The panel has later pine edgings. There are some small chipped losses around the edges some which have been repaired and are discoloured, lower left and right corners. The paint surface is in a good condition overall, one or two figures have been slightly abraded and the pale ground colour can be glimpsed through them, e.g. the three figures, centre left, looking at a pig and the bundles of faggots on the back of the cart. Pentimenti are visible through this pale ground colour. Removing the discoloured varnish would improve the tonality and reveal the colours to be strong and in need of re-saturation. Offered in a dark wood and silver frame."
"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 this oil sketch has long been considered to be the work of Jan Brueghel the Elder, since it incorporates certain elements from his pictures, such as the groups of figures, it is nonetheless rather more likely to be by his son, as Klaus Ertz suggested in 1984 (see Literature).  Dr Ertz dates it to circa 1620, before the Younger Brueghel's Italian sojourn.

Klaus Ertz published several comparable oil sketches on panels prepared with a neutral ground, including one of studies of fruit and vegetables, another of studies of figures for a Tower of Babel, and two of roe-buck.¹

1.  See Ertz under Literature, pp. 501-4, nos. 330-334, all reproduced.