Jan Brueghel the Elder

Anonymous sale, Paris, Christie's, 21 June 2012, lot 24;

Anonymous sale, Munich, Hampel, 26 September 2018, lot 654;

Where acquired by the present owner.

Jan Brueghel the Elder was without question one of the most influential landscape painters in Flanders during the early seventeenth century. One of his specialties in this particular genre was the village landscape, of which the present copper is an exquisite example, remarkable for its vibrant colors and attention to detail. Further contributing to the captivating effect so prized in works by this Flemish master are the lightness of touch and unwavering confidence with which he captured the grandeur of this multi-figure scene. 

From a slightly elevated viewpoint, Brueghel opens a window onto the daily life of a village settled on the edge of a river, as the bright rays of a crisp sunshine emerge from behind the dwelling the rises at left. On this particular clear day, Brueghel captures a bustling market filled with cattle and livestock as villagers barter or go about their daily lives. Several small boats, some empty and others filled with men and animals, are anchored at shore along the quiet river that runs on a gentle diagonal through the scene. On the edge of the river in the middle distance is a group of women absorbed in their laundry, as well as shepherds attending to their flock. Other brilliant details include the man wresting the cow in the lower foreground and the way Brueghel, through his play of colors and light, pulls the eye into the distance, which fades into a wonderful soft blue-green. 

From 1603 onwards, Brueghel regularly explored the village landscape scene. Another example of his that features a bustling cattle market is a copper dated 1615 in the Morrison Collection.¹ In composition and size, this copper closely compares to a Brueghel copper, signed and dated 1613, formerly in the collection of the Dukes of Hamilton in Scotland and today in the Arnot Art Museum in Elmire New York.²

A letter of expertise from Dr. Klaus Ertz dated 23 May 2012 is available upon request.

1. K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Lingen 2008, vol. I, p. 366, cat. no. 179, reproduced in black and white. 

2. Oil on copper, 24.8 by 38.4 cm. Signed and dated lower left: BRVEGHEL 1613. Ertz 2008, vol. I, p. 374, cat. no. 182, reproduced in black and white and listed with incorrect media.