Studio of Pieter Brueghel the Younger Brussels 1564 - 1637/8 Antwerp

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas is lined. The paint layer is unstable and flaking in some areas, e.g. lower centre. The paint surface is extensively over painted and it is difficult to gauge the degree of damage to the paint ."
"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."

This composition is known in numerous variants, of which George Marlier lists twenty autograph versions (although many he knew only from old photographs).¹  Of these, Klaus Ertz accepts only six as by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.²  The present work is a studio variant of these originals by Brueghel and is possibly the largest of all known versions, both autograph and copies. The earliest signed and dated autograph picture is of 1604³ but after this there is a gap of some twenty years before the next dated picture, of 1624.

The design or composition probably derives from a lost work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This argument is loosely supported by the existence of his false signature on two pictures, along with dates in the 1550s; perhaps more pertinent to the argument is the existence of several versions of the composition by Bruegel's pupil Pieter Balten, although these are all in reverse⁵.

1.  See G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels 1969, pp. 294-305.
2.  See K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen 1988/2000, p. 923 ff..
3.  See Marlier, op. cit., no. 3.
4.  Ibid., no. 4.
5.  See, for example, the version sold in these Rooms, 8 July 1999, lot 51.