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Lot Essay
Unseen for almost seventy years, and known only from an old photograph, this is one of a group of paintings from the latter half of Brueghel's career that demonstrate the artist's increasing concern with the depiction of landscapes for their own sake rather than as part of a broader subject picture. Very unusual in being the only known example of this particular composition in Brueghel's oeuvre, it is also of particular interest (Klaus Ertz in his 2000 monograph, op. cit., p. 798, described it as 'hochinteressant') for the study of the artist's influences in being based on a composition by Jacob Grimmer.
Grimmer's design, of which Brueghel repeated the central and right background elements, is known in three works: a Landscape with scenes from Tobias and the Angel of 1567 (Gateshead, Shipley Art Gallery, inv. no. 397), a Landscape with two patriarchs of 1572 (Vaduz, private collection; see R. de Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Brussels, 1991, pp. 59 and 61, no. XI, fig. 4), and a drawing of 1589 (Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Min. 31). All three show slight variations in the landscape, but Brueghel was probably working from the painting of 1572, the only one of the three in which the layout of the windows of the large house in the right background correspond with those in Brueghel's version.
Grimmer's importance in the development of landscape painting has often been underrated, overshadowed as he is by his contemporary, Pieter Breugel I, as well as by Pieter II. However, as early as 1550 Grimmer was praised by Vasari as one of the finest landscape painters of his time ('Ma quanto al fare bellissimi paesi, non ha pari Iacopo Grimer'), whilst Van Mander later claimed he knew of no other artist as 'outstandingly skilled in landscapes'. He was one of the pioneers in the move away from the bird's-eye view of Patinir and his followers towards the more naturalistic, low-perspective views of the early seventeenth century. Towards the end of his life his interest in this more intimate type of landscape grew markedly, and it is entirely probable that - as suggested by the present picture - this development was a major influence in Pieter II's own evolving taste.
Brueghel's own adaption of the composition involved changing the left background to a group of thatched cottages and a church set amongst trees (away from the more grandiose buildings and gatehouse in Grimmer's version), the substitution of the wooden, railed bridge with a more solid, brick-built version, and the changing of the foreground and staffage (Biblical-appearing figures of an as yet unidentified subject; interestingly, the bearded man is taken from Brueghel's Adoration of the Kings composition). This simpler, more rustic view is very much Brueghel's, rather than Grimmer's, vision of the Flemish countryside. It is at the same time a more modern image that, in its contrast with the older artist's prototype, highlights Pieter II's own often overlooked contribution to northern landscape painting.
Not knowing the spelling of Brueghel's signature (which changed in 1616 from Brueghel to Breughel), Klaus Ertz (ibid.) suggested a dating for this picture of between Grimmer's death in 1590 and 1616; however the signature would in fact suggest a date after 1616. This later date is supported by the particular branding iron used to stamp the reverse of the panel by the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke: this seems to be one that is known to have been used between 1617-1626 on panels made by G. Aertssen, Guilliam Gabron, Hans Claessen and Lambrecht Steens (see J. Wadum, 'The Antwerp Brand on Paintings on Panels', in Looking through Paintings. The Study of Painting Techniques and Materials in Support of Art Historical Research, ed. E. Hermens, Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XI, Baarn and London, 1998, p. 184, fig. 3).
Grimmer's design, of which Brueghel repeated the central and right background elements, is known in three works: a Landscape with scenes from Tobias and the Angel of 1567 (Gateshead, Shipley Art Gallery, inv. no. 397), a Landscape with two patriarchs of 1572 (Vaduz, private collection; see R. de Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer, Brussels, 1991, pp. 59 and 61, no. XI, fig. 4), and a drawing of 1589 (Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Min. 31). All three show slight variations in the landscape, but Brueghel was probably working from the painting of 1572, the only one of the three in which the layout of the windows of the large house in the right background correspond with those in Brueghel's version.
Grimmer's importance in the development of landscape painting has often been underrated, overshadowed as he is by his contemporary, Pieter Breugel I, as well as by Pieter II. However, as early as 1550 Grimmer was praised by Vasari as one of the finest landscape painters of his time ('Ma quanto al fare bellissimi paesi, non ha pari Iacopo Grimer'), whilst Van Mander later claimed he knew of no other artist as 'outstandingly skilled in landscapes'. He was one of the pioneers in the move away from the bird's-eye view of Patinir and his followers towards the more naturalistic, low-perspective views of the early seventeenth century. Towards the end of his life his interest in this more intimate type of landscape grew markedly, and it is entirely probable that - as suggested by the present picture - this development was a major influence in Pieter II's own evolving taste.
Brueghel's own adaption of the composition involved changing the left background to a group of thatched cottages and a church set amongst trees (away from the more grandiose buildings and gatehouse in Grimmer's version), the substitution of the wooden, railed bridge with a more solid, brick-built version, and the changing of the foreground and staffage (Biblical-appearing figures of an as yet unidentified subject; interestingly, the bearded man is taken from Brueghel's Adoration of the Kings composition). This simpler, more rustic view is very much Brueghel's, rather than Grimmer's, vision of the Flemish countryside. It is at the same time a more modern image that, in its contrast with the older artist's prototype, highlights Pieter II's own often overlooked contribution to northern landscape painting.
Not knowing the spelling of Brueghel's signature (which changed in 1616 from Brueghel to Breughel), Klaus Ertz (ibid.) suggested a dating for this picture of between Grimmer's death in 1590 and 1616; however the signature would in fact suggest a date after 1616. This later date is supported by the particular branding iron used to stamp the reverse of the panel by the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke: this seems to be one that is known to have been used between 1617-1626 on panels made by G. Aertssen, Guilliam Gabron, Hans Claessen and Lambrecht Steens (see J. Wadum, 'The Antwerp Brand on Paintings on Panels', in Looking through Paintings. The Study of Painting Techniques and Materials in Support of Art Historical Research, ed. E. Hermens, Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XI, Baarn and London, 1998, p. 184, fig. 3).