Jan Breughel the Younger

With Bernheimer, Munich;
By whom sold to a private collector in Bavaria.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external expert and not an employee of Sotheby's. Structural Condition The artist's panel has two vertical joins which run either side of the Madonna, and these are secure and the panel is providing a stable structural support. Paint surface The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer and small scattered retouchings are visible under ultraviolet light. The most significant of these small retouchings are: 1) along the two vertical panel joins which are approximately 20 cm in from the vertical framing edges, 2) retouchings along the lower edge of the panel and in the lower right corner, 3) a small retouching on the Christ Child's left eye and other very small retouchings. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and the only work that might be required is revarnishing.
"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 is one of several examples of Jan Brueghel the Younger developing his father's own garlands encircling the Holy Family, and they are all generally dated to the 1630s. This version comes closest to the example sold recently at Christie's London which was unknown to Klaus Ertz when compiling his 1979 catalogue on the elder Brueghel.¹  The only major difference between the two works is in the younger Brueghel's omission of the figure of St. Anne to the right behind the Virgin.

Jan Brueghel the Elder's version in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich is widely considered the zenith of his work in this genre.²  The staffage, painted by Pieter van Avont, differs markedly from that in the present version, though each detail of the garland and still life elements remain, for the most part, exactly the same as here and in the ex-Christie's version by the father. These extraordinarily detailed garlands made quite an impression on their earliest patrons, Cardinal Borromeo remarking of a painting he acquired in 1607, depicting a similar garland surrounding a figure group by Rubens, "There is no point in saying anything about the enclosed image [the figures], for it is a lesser light that is outshone by all the splendours surrounding it".³

For other versions on this theme by Jan Brueghel the Younger see K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel the Younger, Freren 1984, pp. 469-73, cat. nos. 302-4, all reproduced, while another, most similar to the present example, sold in these Rooms, 7 July 2004, lot 26.


1. Sold London, Christie's, 10 December 2003, lot 20, for £1.1m.
2. K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Cologne 1979, pp. 206, 271, 290, 318, 320, 325, 332, 516, 622, cat. no. 381, reproduced p. 321, fig. 392.
3. Musaeum Bibliothecae Ambrosianae, Milan 1625, p. 18.