Jan Breughel the Younger

Probably acquired by Baron Delbeke (1853 - 1921) in the late 19th century.

The canvas is relined. The paint surface is in overall good condition. There are small discoloured retouchings in the sky. Inspection under UV reveals old and new retouchings in the foliage of the trees, throughout the sky and to a lesser degree in the distant landscape. A large area of can be seen repainting in the upper left measuring approximately 65 by 24 centimetres , including pencilled in craquelure. Also revealed are a few retouchings in the central figures.
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The composition is closely related to Breughel's other known treatments of the subject. The closest is in an English private collection, and is dated by Klaus Ertz to the 1630s.¹ Ertz notes that the figures in the latter picture are by an as-yet unidentified painter from Rubens’ circle and the same is likely to true of the figures in the present work.  Many of the themes recurrent in the different treatments can be seen in the present work: the distinctive avenue of trees receding into the central distance; the discovery of Christ's empty tomb; the inclusion of unexpected still life details throughout the foreground.  The elaborate two-handled urn decorated with gilt lion masks is repeated in another version of this composition recorded by Ertz as in a German private collection, but most recently seen in 2011 with Johnny van Haeften.²

1. See K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel the Younger, Freren 1984, vol. I, p. 322, cat. no 154, reproduced.
2. Ibid. p. 321, cat. no. 152, reproduced plate 30.