Studio of Jan Brueghel the Elder Brussels 1568 - 1625 Antwerp

Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746-1794);
Sparre inv., 1794, no. 30.

Stockholm, 1893, no. 11 (as Jan Brueghel the Elder).

Granberg, 1885-6, no. 21 (as Jan Brueghel the Elder);
Göthe, 1895, no. 3 (as Jan Brueghel the Elder);
Hasselgren, 1974, pp. 115, 120, 127 and 130, reproduced p. 163;
K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere ... Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Cologne 1979, pp. 524 (note 195), 580, under no. 135 (as by a follower of Jan Brueghel);
P.C. Sutton, Dutch & Flemish Seventeenth-century paintings.  the Harold Samuel Collection, exhibition catalogue, Cambridge 1992, p. 36, under no. 8, reproduced fig. 2.

"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 good condition but has some slight raised deformations, lower left and upper right, caused by force to the reverse. These have not resulted in paint loss. The paint surface is in a good condition with a small recent paint chip to the sail of the boat lower right. There are significant blanched retouchings to the sky, upper right, which seem to cover a thin paint layer rather than substantial paint loss. There are one or two small retouchings to paint losses in the water. The small boat with figures and animals, lower centre, shows abrasion to the paint layer and augmentation as do the shadows of the moored boats in the mid-ground. The varnish is discoloured and degraded and no longer saturates the colours satisfactorily. Its removal would enhance the tonal quality."
"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."

Described by Klaus Ertz (probably on the basis of a photograph) as the work of a follower of Jan Brueghel, this composition is derived in broad outline from Jan Brueghel's painting on copper in the Wellington Museum, Apsley House, London, which is signed and dated 1606 (see fig. 1).¹   An autograph version dated 1612 is in the Harold Samuel collection, the Guildhall, London, and another is at Chatsworth.²  The composition seems to have been repeated often in the workshop of the Elder Jan Brueghel, and later by his son, Jan Brueghel the Younger (for example the picture formerly with David Koetser, Zurich).³

This has been considered as a pendant to the previous lot since the 18th century, and may indeed have been conceived as such in Brueghel's workshop to make up a pair.  It is however of lesser quality, and is on a thinner and less expensive copper support.

1.  See Ertz, under Literature, pp. 52, 54, 69, 80, 169, 184, 188 and 580, no. 135, reproduced figs. 24 and 211z.
2.  See Sutton, under Literature, the Chatsworth picture reproduced fig. 3.
3.  See K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Jüngere, Freren 1984, p. 233, no. 54, reproduced colour plate II.