Pieter Brueghel II (1564-1637/8)

Villagers merrymaking outside the Swan Inn

Details

Pieter Brueghel II (Brussels c. 1564-1637/8 Antwerp)
Villagers merrymaking outside the Swan Inn
signed 'P· BREVGHEL·' (lower right, on the barrel), inscribed and dated 'IN DE SWANE 1630' (upper centre, on the inn sign)
oil on panel
22.1/8 x 30 in. (56.2 x 76.2 cm.)

Provenance

with John Mitchell & Son, London, 1964.
Anon. sale [The Property of a Nobleman], Christie's, London, 23 March 1973, lot 89 (68,000 gns.).
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 10 December 1993, lot 40 (£198,000 to the present owner).

Literature

G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 389.

Lot Essay

This composition, known in only two versions - the present picture and that in the Hallwyll collection, Stockholm, which is slightly higher, but not dated - is described by Marlier as 'une des plus plaisantes inventions de Pierre le Jeune'.

The guests at table, set in a different village, recur in an upright composition, recorded by Marlier (op. cit., p. 390 and fig. 241) as in a British private collection.

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