Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Max von Wogau, 1928;
His deceased sale, London, Sotheby's, 30 June 1965, lot 101, for £2,200 to Beckland;
Private collection, Berlin, before 1989;
With Galerie d'Art St. Honoré, Paris, 1990, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Paris, Salon de Mars, March 1990.

G. Marlier, Pierre Breughel le Jeune, Brussels 1969, p. 438, no. 26;
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen 2000, vol. I, pp. 487, 501, cat. no. E490, reproduced p. 506, fig. 370.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting on a large oak panel has a fairly recent cradle, and restoration. There is one lower joint, with careful retouching all along the presumably reglued joint. The upper joint has minimal retouching. The panel appears perfectly sound with no structural problems at all, and has not been affected in any way by the existence of the cradle. The almost immaculate condition of the paint throughout reflects both the remarkable original technique and the care with which the picture has been treated throughout its life. Every minute detail of the lawyers work and of his clients is beautifully preserved intact down to the minutiae of the various bills and statements as well as the gifts which he will be offered including chickens. There is a little strengthening along the left edge especially near the joints and the wall at the top left corner has also been slightly reinforced. Under ultra violet light there is strengthening in some of the darker definitions in the drapery, with a few vertical strengthening touches in the wood of the lawyer's bench behind. The chickens black feathers have also been reinforced, however all these are superficial touches. A slight scratch on the back of the figure at the middle of the right edge has been touched out. However these are marginal imperfections in an exceptionally finely preserved painting. It is rare to find such good condition throughout, even in this field. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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."

Klaus Ertz describes this treatment of The village lawyer’s office as “gehört zu den besten Versionen des Themas” (one of the best versions of the subject).¹ It is one of Pieter Brueghel’s most popular subjects and though at least twenty-five autograph versions survive, the vast majority are on Brueghel’s standard small-scale panel size, measuring approximately 55 by 88 cm.. Only three, of which this is one, are painted on Brueghel’s larger standard panel size of approximately 75-79 cm. by 123-26 cm.. All three large-scale works are dated: of the other two (both in private collections) one is dated 1615 and the other 1618.² The earliest dated small-scale panel is dated 1616 and Brueghel continued to paint them on that scale well into the 1620s.³ Brueghel used these standard-sized panels in his workshop because the designs were transferred using tracings.

Chronologically this is thus most likely Brueghel’s second attempt at the subject. Though the tracing method ensures that the overall design of all versions remains largely the same, Brueghel did tend to subtly alter tone and colour from one work to another; for example, where in this early large-scale version the patiently waiting gentleman at the extreme left wears a bright red chemise, in the later large-scale version from 1618 it is blue. The vast array of caricatured faces, however, does not change, though the three large-scale versions allow for a deeper study of each highly characterised physiognomy. The subject determines that almost the entire picture surface is covered by man or object, thus allowing Brueghel to experiment and delight in narrative incident as well as visual  texture.

Though the subject has traditionally been called “Rent Day”, “Tax-Collector’s office” and “Payment of (the) tithes”, recent scholarship has identified it as a ramshackle village lawyer’s office.⁴ This identification is supported by documents from as early as 1627, when the inventory of Antoinette Wiael’s collection describes a panel painting by the younger Brueghel of “een franschen procureur” (a French lawyer).⁵ The gentleman seated behind the desk wears a traditional lawyer’s cap. His clerk is busy at a tiny desk behind the door. Peasants approach the lawyer with produce as payment for services rendered: a woman reaches down into a basket in the search for goods to hand to her husband to offer the lawyer; several other men wait nervously for the lawyer’s decision while another seems to be spying on the whole scene from the other side of a door left ajar. Thus the narrative, together with the caricature in execution, suggest that this is a satire on the venality of the legal profession. Indeed an engraving made after the composition was published in 1618 by Paulus Fürst for a pamphlet attacking the corruption of lawyers and the way they exercise power by twisting both fact and law.⁶ However, whether taken literally or ironically, there is no doubt that this most modern of compositions appealed as widely then as it is does today.

1. See Ertz, under Literature.
2. Ertz nos. E489 and E496. There is one other larger autograph panel, dated 1617, measuring 115 by 187 cm.. In 1937 it was in the Surati collection, Milan; see Ertz, op. cit., p. 502, no. E494, reproduced.
3.  Ertz no. E491.
4.  See. D. de Vos, Stedelijke Musea Brugge, Catalogus Schilderijen 15de en 16de eeuw, Bruges 1979, p. 95; and J. Folie, Pieter Brueghel de Jonge, exhibition catalogue (brochure), Maastricht 1993.
5.  See de Vos, ibid.
6.  See Ertz, ibid., p. 494, figs. 378 and 379. The pamphlet does not acknowledge Brueghel as the source of the composition.