WORKSHOP OF JAN MASSYS | A MERRY COMPANY

With a private collector in Germany, England and Australia since circa 1950;

By whose estate anonymously sold, Australia, Christopher Bragg, 24 March 2013, lot 506 (as Jan Massys and with a certificate signed by Max J. Friedlander), for $20,000;

There acquired.

Jan Massys explored the subject of joyful peasants carousing on a number of occasions: two signed examples from 1562 are today in the Moravska Galerie, Brno (inv. no. A399) and in the Musée Thomas Henry, Cherbourg (inv. no. 66), while a third example from 1564 is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. no. 963).  Although the present work differs slightly from these paintings in terms of composition, it recalls specific motifs, such as a woman distracting one of the men, the musical instruments, and the jar filled with alcohol. This painting serves as an example of the popularity of the amusing composition in Massys’ thriving workshop. The Dorotheum recently sold a painting by Jan Massys and his workshop that is comparable in subject matter and style to the present lot for $84,000 (1).

When the present painting last appeared at auction in 2013, it was accompanied by a 1938 certificate from Max J. Friedlander attributing the work to Jan Massys.   

1. Anonymous sale, Vienna, Dorotheum, 30 April 2019, lot 323.