Studio of Jan Brueghel the Elder Brussels 1568 - 1625 Antwerp

Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746-1794);
Sparre inv., 1794, no. 32.

Stockholm, 1893, no. 10.

Granberg, 1885-6, no. 22;
Göthe, 1895, p. 12, no. 4;
Kjellberg, 1966, pp. 345-46;
Hasselgren, 1974, pp. 116, 120, 127 and 130, reproduced p. 163;
K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere ... Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Cologne 1979, pp. 146 and 583, no. 152, reproduced p. 146, fig. 151 (as "Jan Brueghel the Elder ?").

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The copper panel is in a good condition; it is flat and stable. The paint layer is mostly sound with some areas that are raised and unstable and show previous minor paint loss e.g. the two horses being fed, lower left, and a small area lower right. Up in the sky, upper right, can be seen a degree of blanched retouchings. These cover small paint losses. The red jacket of the woman in the foreground, with a flagon on her head, has been slightly compromised as have the figures lower right. Some small white blemishes seem to extend to the varnish only which is discoloured and degraded, and no longer saturates the colours satisfactorily; removal of it would significantly enhance the tonal quality. There is a small paint loss lower centre to the left of the boot of the man with a sack on his back and a small surface scratch. The signature is slightly abraded and has been strengthened by a previous restorer."
"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, who seems not to have inspected this picture in the original, catalogued it as by Jan Brueghel the Elder but with a question mark (in the body of his text he states that the attribution to Jan Brueghel should be treated with caution on grounds of the untypical signature), tending to the view that it should be dated on grounds of style to circa 1610.  No prime version is known, although a very beautiful drawing by Jan Brueghel the Elder in Brussels, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Collection de Grez, may have served as the prototype (see fig. 1).¹  Ertz cautiously expresses the view that there may be a lost original painting by Brueghel.

This painting is on an expensive copper support made by the principal manufacturer of copper plates in Antwerp, Peeter Stas.  Stas' stamp seems to have changed almost every year until 1610, and often his coppers are dated with the year of manufacture.  By comparison with dated stamps, backed up by data from stamped coppers supporting dated paintings, the present copper plate can cautiously be dated to before 1606.²  Since Stas coppers were usually used within a couple of years of manufacture, Ertz's conjectural dating of circa 1610 may be too late.  Although it does not appear to be original, the date indicated by the inscription is more likely.

Since parts of the picture are of greater quality than the rest, it is plausible that Jan Brueghel the Elder may have painted some parts himself, while leaving the greater part of the execution to an assistant.  The following lot has been considered its pendant since the 18th century, and may well have been conceived as such in Brueghel's workshop.  Both were catalogued by Granberg and Göthe as by Jan Brueghel the Elder.

1.  See Ertz, p. 146, reproduced p. 147, fig. 152. 
2.  See J. Wadum, in Copper as Canvas, exhibition catalogue, New York/ Oxford 1999, p.104, esp. figs. 5.11 and  5.12.