Circle of Pieter Brueghel the Younger

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar Ltd who are external specialists and not employees of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The large canvas has been lined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher with two vertical cross batons. This is providing a secure and stable structural support. The lining is quite a hard wax lining. Paint surface The paint surface has a relatively even varnish layer. The paint surface is secure. There is a horizontal line visible running through the centre of the composition which may correspond to an old seam or fold in the canvas. This line is slightly raised. The varnish around this area is slightly abraded and some of the retouchings associated with this line have discoloured and are visible in natural light. Inspection under ultra violet light shows an opaque and discoloured varnish layer. Inspection under ultra violet light also shows several areas of retouching, the most significant of which are: 1) A horizontal line of retouching running across the centre of the composition corresponding the the line mentioned above, 2) a 'T' shaped retouching within the roof of the building in the upper left of the composition, measuring approximately 9 x 3.5 cm and other small areas of retouching around this, including strengthening in the leaves of the tree in the upper left corner, 3) further lines of strengthening in the trunk of the tree in the upper left around the left vertical framing edge, 4) lines of strengthening around the table, barrel and nearby figures in the lower left of the composition, 5) small spots and lines predominantly in the sky, and 6) small areas of strengthening in the trees and the building in the upper right of the composition. There are other scattered retouchings throughout the composition and appear to be mostly areas of strengthening. There may be other areas of retouching that are not visible under ultra violet light due to the opaque varnish layers. The retouchings that are visible appear to have been carefully applied. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition and no work is required for reasons of conservation.
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This composition is known through numerous studio variants. Klaus Ertz accepts eight versions (including one fragment) as autograph works by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, those dated ranging from 1604 to 1632, and the twenty-eight published copies further attest to the popularity of the composition.¹ The argument first proposed by Hulin de Loo and Friedländer that the design originates from a lost prototype by Pieter Bruegel the Elder is loosely supported by the false signatures and dates from the 1550s that are found on two of the Younger's autograph paintings, and the existence of a number of versions in reverse by Bruegel's pupil, Pieter Balten, also bears out this theory.

The present, unpublished work is one of the largest treatments of the scene, which depicts at its centre villagers gathering around a makeshift theatre to watch the denouement of the farce, when the cuckolded husband reveals himself to his unfaithful wife and her lover, the local priest. The group of three elegantly-dressed women in the lower left corner of the painting do not appear in other versions of the subject, and the style of their costume may indicate that they are later additions to the composition.

1. K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564-1637/38). Die Gemälde mit Kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Lingen 1988/2000, vol. II, pp. 894-901, and 923-927, cat. nos E1338-A1365.