Elegant company making music with a lady and a gentleman dancing around a maypole, a palace with an ornamental garden beyond

Houbraken claimed that Pieter Gysels was apprenticed to Jan Breughel the Younger on the basis of an entry in Breughel's diary that described a picture of his that had been retouched by 'Gys'. Whether or not this refers to Gysels is uncertain, though his artistic style and his landscapes in particular reveal a clear debt to Jan Brueghel the Elder. He became a member of the Antwerp guild in 1649/50 and established himself as a painter of small-scale landscapes, often inhabited by elegant company, of which the present work is a pre-eminent example. The pole, around which an elegant couple are dancing in the foreground, was normally erected in carnival in May and became a focal point for popular amusement. When covered with grease, people would compete to climb it in search of prizes balanced precariously at the top. The setting must be imaginary but provides an insight into the arrangement of a Flemish country estate and its formal gardens. The energy invested in the gardens and fields by a host of gardeners, shepherds, harvesters and washerwomen is in marked contrast to the pursuits of the gentlefolk who dance, promenade in the garden or enjoy a punt down a canal. Two comparable works on copper have appeared on the market in recent years, at Sotheby's, London, 17 December 1998, lot 2 (£166,500); and 7 July 2004, lot 3 (£106,400).