Lot Essay
The present lot is based on the picture by Pieter Brueghel I, signed and dated 1559, in the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin/Dahlem.
Marlier lists sixteen versions of this composition; according to him the best of these are: the signed and dated picture of 1607 in the Musée Wuyts van Campen in Lier; the picture formerly in the collection of Simon Levy, Paris; the signed picture in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; and the picture in a private collection, Belgium, which is also signed.
The versions listed by Marlier all differ from Pieter Brueghel I's original, especially in the background. In the case of the present lot the landscape is more open, the man pulling a load and the man with a horse on the bank have been omitted and replaced by a naked woman with raised arms. The fence now follows the edge of the pond below. In the far background a castle has been added beside the church. The sailing vessel has been moved; a tree has been placed near the seated peasant feeding goose. The present lot thus agrees with the versions at Lier and ex-Levy, Paris, and differs from the pictures in Haarlem and in the Belgian private collection.
Marlier explained these alterations by Pieter Brueghel II by suggesting that Pieter Brueghel II may not have understood all the proverbs depicted by his father. His father's picture was in fact still in Antwerp, as it was listed in the iventory of Pieter Stevens in 1668.
Marlier who only knew the present lot from an old photograph, doubted that it was the work of Pieter Brueghel II; however the level of quality merits comparison with that for instance in the Lier painting and clearly an attribution to Pieter Brueghel II would appear justified.
The proverbs in the picture, hundred and thirty two in all are listed by Marlier (op.cit., pp. 125/26). Taken in all, the composition is to be understood as a visual encyclopedia which illustrates the folly and the absurdity of human behaviour with a humour inspired by Erasmus's Praise of Folly. Margaret Sullivan, Bruegel's Proverbs: Art and Audience in the Northern Renaissance, Art Journal, 1991, pp.431/66 investigated Erasmus's attitude to proverbs, the study of which he regarded as a legitimate humanist activity, and the influence of his writings on Pieter Brueghel the Elder
See colour illustration
Marlier lists sixteen versions of this composition; according to him the best of these are: the signed and dated picture of 1607 in the Musée Wuyts van Campen in Lier; the picture formerly in the collection of Simon Levy, Paris; the signed picture in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; and the picture in a private collection, Belgium, which is also signed.
The versions listed by Marlier all differ from Pieter Brueghel I's original, especially in the background. In the case of the present lot the landscape is more open, the man pulling a load and the man with a horse on the bank have been omitted and replaced by a naked woman with raised arms. The fence now follows the edge of the pond below. In the far background a castle has been added beside the church. The sailing vessel has been moved; a tree has been placed near the seated peasant feeding goose. The present lot thus agrees with the versions at Lier and ex-Levy, Paris, and differs from the pictures in Haarlem and in the Belgian private collection.
Marlier explained these alterations by Pieter Brueghel II by suggesting that Pieter Brueghel II may not have understood all the proverbs depicted by his father. His father's picture was in fact still in Antwerp, as it was listed in the iventory of Pieter Stevens in 1668.
Marlier who only knew the present lot from an old photograph, doubted that it was the work of Pieter Brueghel II; however the level of quality merits comparison with that for instance in the Lier painting and clearly an attribution to Pieter Brueghel II would appear justified.
The proverbs in the picture, hundred and thirty two in all are listed by Marlier (op.cit., pp. 125/26). Taken in all, the composition is to be understood as a visual encyclopedia which illustrates the folly and the absurdity of human behaviour with a humour inspired by Erasmus's Praise of Folly. Margaret Sullivan, Bruegel's Proverbs: Art and Audience in the Northern Renaissance, Art Journal, 1991, pp.431/66 investigated Erasmus's attitude to proverbs, the study of which he regarded as a legitimate humanist activity, and the influence of his writings on Pieter Brueghel the Elder
See colour illustration