PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER | Winter landscape with skaters

Anonymous sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 16 June 1960, lot 32; With Galerie Robert Finck, Brussels, 1960 (when advertised in Weltkunst, 15 November 1960);

Jacques Grazia-Empain, Brussels, by 1969;

With Galerie Robert Finck, Brussels, by 1985 (and advertised in Weltkunst, 15 September 1987);

From whom acquired by the grandfather of the present owner.

Brussels, Galerie Robert Finck, Exposition de tableaux de maîtres flamands du XVe au XXe siècle, 11–27 November 1960, no. 7; Brussels, Galerie Robert Finck, Trente-trois tableaux de Pierre Breughel le jeune dans les collections privées belges, 19 April – 18 May 1969, no. 9;

Brussels, Galerie Robert Finck, Collection de tableaux anciens du XVe au XVIIIe siècle, 1988 (listed under '1985').

G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels 1969, p. 238, cat. no. 6, reproduced fig. 146; K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564–1637/38), Lingen 1988/2000, vol. II, pp. 544 and 602, cat. no. E671, reproduced p. 544, fig. 432.

The beautifully flat oak panel, consisting of three horizontal planks, is supported on the reverse by four vertical batons. The paint surface has, in general, been very well preserved with the high level of detail and colour wonderfully intact. Along the two panel joins there is, as is to be expected of a panel of this age, some retouching. At the left edge of the uppermost join this retouching extends into the sky above the church. In the central foreground there is an area of retouching around the basket on the snow. A small horizontal split, fully restored, appears at the left edge of the central plank and extends approximately 20cm. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a few further scattered retouchings but in general this painting is in good overall condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Only a child when his father died, Pieter Brueghel the Younger would come to perpetuate Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s innovative vision of ‘the winter landscape’ – perhaps the theme most highly favoured by one of the most original and resourceful artists of the Northern Renaissance. The evocation of an icy day in the present work picks up the subject of figures skating, which had previously been explored by the Elder in his Hunters in the snow, and in particular the Winter landscape with a bird trap.¹ The present composition represents a highly important phase in the evolution of this iconography, which was taken up by contemporary artists such as Abel Grimmer, and developed by successive generations of Northern European painters, from Hendrick Avercamp to Aert van der Neer. Pieter Brueghel the Younger based his paintings of The Four Seasons on the series conceived by his father as designs for engravings that had been commissioned by his publisher Hieronymus Cock (1518–1570) (fig. 1). Cock clearly recognised the commercial potential of such a set, drawing on the long, rich visual history of representations of the months or seasons, which originated in medieval books of hours. Bruegel the Elder made drawings for Spring, signed and dated 1565,² and Summer, signed and dated 1568,³ but following his death in 1569, the series was completed by another leading artist of the time, Hans Bol (1534–1593), who was evidently heavily dependent on Bruegel’s example and working very much in the spirit of his contemporary. The inn to the right in this scene, for example, is based on a real tavern (in Hoboken, outside Antwerp), which appears in the Elder’s drawing of 1559,⁴ and in subsequent engravings. Unfortunately neither of Bol’s preparatory drawings for the series appears to have survived, however. Cock’s prints were published in 1570 and very quickly became widely known.

While Brueghel the Younger certainly made complete painted sets of The Four Seasons (possibly only two of which remain intact),⁵ it is clear that the enterprising artist was also willing to execute individual versions or pairs of the seasons according to demand. The present painting, for example, was one of a pair of pendants, the other representing Spring, also with Galerie Robert Finck in Brussels in 1960.⁶

The Winter Landscape exists in only ten to twelve autograph versions, all of which are signed, one securely dated 1621, and two others possibly dated 1613 and 1622.⁷ The form of the signature here – ‘Breughel’ as opposed to ‘Brueghel’ – indicates a date after 1616, when the artist changed the spelling of his name.⁸ These autograph versions of the composition are all executed on panels of similar size and proportion, strongly suggesting that the design was transferred by a tracing available in the Brueghel workshop, though variations in details such as the actions and number of figures on the ice vary between them.

Nor has the artist slavishly followed Cock’s engraving. As well as updating some of the figures’ dress, Brueghel has adapted the composition, with several changes to the staffage, the position of the trees, framing the scene with trunks on either side, and the sparser background, such as the bare, snow-covered bank to the left, rather than the vineyard visible in Cock’s engraving. These amendments reflect the artist’s understanding of the painted format, which is served better by this spacious arrangement than the more crowded appearance of the graphic scene.

1 Both in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. nos 1838 and 625, respectively; see S. Haag et al., Bruegel, exh. cat., Vienna 2018, pp. 214 ff., cat. no. 75, reproduced in colour pp. 224–25; and pp. 212–13, cat. no. 71, reproduced in colour pp. 210–11.

2 Vienna, Albertina; see Ertz 1988/2000, vol. II, p. 537, reproduced p. 538, fig. 412.

3 Hamburg, Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett; see Ertz 1988/2000, vol. II, p. 537, reproduced p. 538, fig. 413.

4 London, Courtauld Institute; see H. Mielke, Pieter Bruegel: die Zeichnungen, Belgium 1996, pp. 55–56, cat. no. 44, reproduced p. 167.

5 The set sold London, Christie’s, 7 July 2016, lot 6 (£6,466,500), and that in the National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest; other formerly complete series are believed to have been since dispersed. 

6 See Ertz 1988/2000, pp. 590–91, cat. no. E610, reproduced.

7 See Ertz 1988/2000, pp. 601–02, cat. nos E665–E677. The uncertainty over the number of accepted works is due to the likelihood of the duplication of entries. Another autograph Winter Landscape, not published in Ertz, was sold London, Sotheby’s, 8 July 2015, lot 6 (£1,085,000).

8 Dendrochronological analysis carried out by Ian Tyers of Dendrochronological Consultancy Limited, has found that the latest dated heartwood ring of the three boards making up the panel is 1549. With a minimum expected number of eight sapwood rings likely to be missing, it is possible to assume a terminus post quem for the felling of the tree, of circa 1557. None of the boards in this panel are of a typical width for Baltic timber, however, meaning it is neither possible to know by how much they were trimmed, nor to provide an accurate likely usage date.