Lot Essay
The proverb 'Wie weet waeromme de ganze bervoets gaen?' ('Who knows why the geese go barefoot?'), like asking 'Why is the sky blue?', expresses the futility of trying to find a justification for every aspect of Creation; everything has its reason.
Klaus Ertz records four other versions of this composition after a lost painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder: in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp; in a Private Collection, New York (later Christie's, New York, 19 April 2007, lot 50); and two others on the art market, in Brussels (Le Roy, 08 November 1909, lot 13) and New York (Christie's, 19 May 1993, lot 27). Vide Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564-1637/38: Die Gemälde Mit Kritischem OEuvrekatalog, Freren, 1984, I, pp. 133-7, II, pp. 205-6, nos. E97-E100.
Klaus Ertz records four other versions of this composition after a lost painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder: in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp; in a Private Collection, New York (later Christie's, New York, 19 April 2007, lot 50); and two others on the art market, in Brussels (Le Roy, 08 November 1909, lot 13) and New York (Christie's, 19 May 1993, lot 27). Vide Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564-1637/38: Die Gemälde Mit Kritischem OEuvrekatalog, Freren, 1984, I, pp. 133-7, II, pp. 205-6, nos. E97-E100.