- 121
Jan Breughel the Younger
Description
- Jan Breughel the Younger
- The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, surrounded by garlands and swags of fruit and flowers
- oil on oak panel
Provenance
With Bernheimer, Munich;
By whom sold to a private collector in Bavaria.
Condition
"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."
Catalogue Note
This is one of several examples of Jan Brueghel the Younger developing his father's own garlands encircling the Holy Family, and they are all generally dated to the 1630s. This version comes closest to the example sold recently at Christie's London which was unknown to Klaus Ertz when compiling his 1979 catalogue on the elder Brueghel.1 The only major difference between the two works is in the younger Brueghel's omission of the figure of Saint Anne to the right behind the Virgin.
Jan Brueghel the Elder's version in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich is widely considered the zenith of his work in this genre.2 The staffage, painted by Pieter van Avont, differs markedly from that in the present version, though each detail of the garland and still-life elements remain, for the most part, exactly the same as here and in the ex-Christie's version by the father.
1. Sold London, Christie's, 10 December 2003, lot 20, for £1.1m.
2. K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Cologne 1979, pp. 206, 271, 290, 318, 320, 325, 332, 516, 622, cat. no. 381, reproduced p. 321, fig. 392.