Studio of Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Pieter Brueghel the Younger
The Procession of the Groom
oil on panel

Provenance

Theodor Stroefer, Nuremberg;
His sale, Munich, Böhler, 28 October 1937, lot 25, where bought by an ancestor of the present owner.

Literature

G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels 1969, p. 345;
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, vol. II, Lingen 2000, p. 700, no. F 813 (F= Fraglich, or doubtful as by Brueghel).

Catalogue Note

This composition almost certainly originates with Marten van Cleve, although no certain prime original by him is known.¹ Pieter Brueghel the Younger painted several versions which generally adhere to the Van Cleve formula quite closely, though with small differences in the compostion, and it seems that he treated the Van Cleve prototype in the same way that he treated compositions originating with his father, who was Van Cleve's contemporary (although Van Cleve lived longer). In handling and the precise form of the composition, this picture is clearly closer to versions by Brueghel than Van Cleve.²

1. See Ertz, under Literature, pp. 631-3., figs. 9, cat. no. 808, reproduced p. 632, fig. 500).
2. For signed examples, ibid, p. 699, nos. E 808*, E 810*, reproduced p. 633, fig. 500.