Jan Brueghel the Elder

In the collection of the present owner’s family since before the Second World War.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The oval panel is uncradled and there is evidence of a repaired split running diagonally up through the sky and trees on the right side of the composition. There is also a fine hairline crack in the sky. Paint Surface The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows the varnish layers to be quite opaque and discoloured suggesting that cleaning the painting would be beneficial. The only retouchings visible under ultra-violet light are in the repaired crack in the panel mentioned above and a few tiny scattered spots in the landscape. There may be other retouchings beneath the opaque varnish layers which are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. The fine detail of the painting would appear to be well preserved. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and should respond well to cleaning and revarnishing.
"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."

In the years leading up to and around 1600, just after his return to Antwerp from Italy, Brueghel painted a number of small landscapes of circular format, on panels each measuring 21cm in diameter. This is such a work, but one that is exceptional in the group for not being on a religious theme.

Of the group of circular landscapes only two are signed or dated, the Rocky landscape with the Rest on the Flight to Egypt and A wooded landscape with the Temptation of Christ, both of which are dated 1598. Others on the same format are the Sacrifice of Isaac (Geneva, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire), another Rest on the Flight to Egypt (Munich, Alte Pinakothek) and a Landscape with a hermit monk (sold London, Christie's, 5 July 2011, lot 32).

Brueghel travelled to Italy in 1589 and remained there until 1596. He worked in Naples, then in Rome under the patronage of Cardinal Ascanio Colonna, and then in Milan for Cardinal Federico Borromeo. The year after his return to Antwerp he was registered in the guild of painters in that city. It is to his Italian years that Brueghel owes the miniaturist landscape technique for which he became famous, working alongside, and drawing influence from, older northern artists who had found success in Italy such as Paul Bril and Hans Rottenhammer.

Tree-ring analysis of the panel indicates that the tree from which the panel was cut was still growing in 1573. Adding to that the minimum expected number of sapwood rings (8 years for Eastern Baltic sourced timbers such as this) suggests that this panel was derived from a tree that was felled after about 1581. For further information on this dendrochronological analysis a full report is available on request.