L12030

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Lot 7
  • 7

Follower of Pieter Brueghel the Elder

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
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Description

  • Pieter Brueghel the Elder
  • Flemish Proverbs
  • oil on canvas

Provenance

Probably with Galerie S. Hartveld, Antwerp, by 1938;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 17 July 1981, lot 154, when acquired by the present owners for £15,000.

Literature

Probably G. Glück, Das Grosse Breugel-Werk, Vienna 1951, p. 49;
Probably G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le jeune, Brussels 1969, p. 128, no. 12;
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere - Die Gemälde mit kritischem oeuvrekatalog, Lingen 2000, vol. I, p. 75, no. A21.

Condition

The actual painting is a bit softer in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The canvas is relined. Strips of the relining are visible to the front along the lower and left edge. The paint surface is in fair condition, it has grown thin, and therefore some minor discoloured retouchings and strengthenings are visible to the naked eye. The paint surface shows several small horizontal creases throughout the composition, some of which have been retouched. The details are nicely preserved. The paint layer has a dirty varnish layer. Inspection under UV light confirms the retouchings mentioned above. Offered in a plain wood frame, tiny chips.
"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."

Catalogue Note

The composition derives from the celebrated original by Pieter Brueghel the Elder of 1550 today in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Berlin. The original was hugely popular and is known in many versions and copies, many by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and many like this example on canvas rather than panel, although all are of very similar size to the original (117 by 163 cm.). Brueghel's original contains approximately 132 traditional proverbs and sayings. The present work, however, seems to be unique in that it contains a large number of variations on the original design. Although the general mise-en-scène remains the same, the painter has narrowed and simplified Brueghel's original format, introduced a very different foreground and completely altered the distant landscape. Many proverbs have been discarded and others moved to different parts of the composition. Among these may be noted, for example, the man with a ladder propped against the building on the left of the picture; this is the proverb 'zijn huik naar de wind hangen' (to hang one's cloak according to the wind, or adapt your point of view), and has been moved from the top of the tower in the original. Similarly, in the centre the artist has introduced a woman depicting another proverb, 'dragen het water in het ene hand, en in her andere het vuur' (to carry fire in one hand and water in the other), who appears on the extreme left of Brueghel's original, and changed her costume with that of the lady with her cuckolded husband ('zij hangt haar man de blauwe huik on' - she puts the blue cloak over her man) who appears in the centre of the original but is here moved to the extreme left of the design. The prominent figure in the foreground shows the saying 'men moet geen rozen voor de zwijnen werpen' (to cast roses before swine or to waste something) and occupies a similar place, albeit very differently dressed, in the original. The wonderful figure straining to reach his loaf in the lower right corner does appear in the original, and shows the saying 'niet van het ene brood tot het andere te kunnen geraken' (to be barely able to reach from one loaf to another, or to have monetary difficulties). The landscape in the far right background, however, is very different, and does not feature in any of the known versions and copies produced by Pieter Brueghel the Younger and his workshop. While the gallows do appear in the 1550 original, the windmill seems to be an addition of the artist. No other version of this composition is recorded, and whoever this painter was, he seems to have been an unusually free spirit within the following or shop of Brueghel and his son.