Joseph van Bredael

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 1983, lot 23, for £9,000.

E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, vol. II, Paris 1999, p. 770.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The thin copper panel is secure. The paint surface is stable but pitted and much restoration work has been carried out in the sky to reduce this pitted-ness . There are restored losses to the water, lower right, and the upper and lower left corners. The figures in the foreground are relatively untouched and much of the detail is intact. Removing the discoloured varnish would improve the tonality. Offered in a part wood and velvet frame, in good condition"
"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."

Bredael was born into a large family of painters and was the youngest son of Joris van Bredael (1661-1706), and the grandson of the patriarch of the family Peeter van Bredael (1629-1719). In 1702 he was engaged to work alongside his first cousin Jan Frans van Bredael the Elder (1686-1750) in the studio of the painter and dealer Jacob de Witte copying the compositions of Jan Brueghel the Elder and Philips Wouwerman. Like many of Bredael's designs the present composition has its roots in the work of Jan Brueghel the Elder, in this case the Village scene with a windmill in the Knecht Collection, Zurich.¹ Although far from being a copy, there is a clear knowledge of Brueghel's composition. The picture also clearly relates to the Village scene with a windmill, in the Mittelrhenische Landesmuseum, Mainz,² of which a signed version by Bredael was sold London, Christie's 4 July 1986, lot 48. Another version of the present picture by Bredael, with numerous differences, and signed with initials, was sold in these Rooms, 9 July 1998, lot 19, for £45,000.

1. See K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der ältere, Cologne 1979, pp. 138-9, cat. no. 93, reproduced plate 143.
2. See C. Stukenbrock, Niederländische Gemälde des 16 und 17 Jahrhunderts, Mainz 1997, pp. 96-7, reproduced.