Lot Essay
The support is branded with the coat-of-arms of the City of Antwerp and with the initial A
The present lot, hitherto unrecorded, is the fourth known version of this composition. Two versions are listed by Marlier, one in a private collection, Great Britain, the other in the Hallwyl Museet Stockholm (G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, 1969, p.389, fig.240)
A third version was sold at Sotheby's New York, 4 June 1987, lot 32. Marlier describes the composition as "Une des plus plaisantes inventions de Pierre le Jeune, une des plus rares aussi, en raison de l'échelle relativement grande des principaux acteurs".
Jorgen Wadum of the Mauritshuis has kindly confirmed us (letter) that the form of the marks on the reverse of the panel confirm a dating of it to the 1620's. The same initial A appears on the reverse of the Hallwyl panel (see Hallwylska Samlingen, 1930, I, pp.267-269, no. B. 113 and II, with ill.).
See colour illustration
The present lot, hitherto unrecorded, is the fourth known version of this composition. Two versions are listed by Marlier, one in a private collection, Great Britain, the other in the Hallwyl Museet Stockholm (G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, 1969, p.389, fig.240)
A third version was sold at Sotheby's New York, 4 June 1987, lot 32. Marlier describes the composition as "Une des plus plaisantes inventions de Pierre le Jeune, une des plus rares aussi, en raison de l'échelle relativement grande des principaux acteurs".
Jorgen Wadum of the Mauritshuis has kindly confirmed us (letter) that the form of the marks on the reverse of the panel confirm a dating of it to the 1620's. The same initial A appears on the reverse of the Hallwyl panel (see Hallwylska Samlingen, 1930, I, pp.267-269, no. B. 113 and II, with ill.).
See colour illustration