Lot Essay
Two other versions, both signed, are known, one, of similar size to the present picture, at Prague, the other, larger, once with the Terry-Engell Gallery, London (see G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, 1969, p.417 and fig.261, in whose opinion 'ce site ravissant, si merveilleusement forestier ... compte parmi les plus belles inventions du peintre'). The group of picnickers recurs in a different composition sold in Stockholm in 1948 (idem, fig.261).