The collector of tithes

K. Ertz (see Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564-1637/8): die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, I, 2000, pp. 487 ff.) lists no fewer than 91 versions of the present composition. These versions, differing in quality, exist in two sizes; the smaller ones measuring circa 55 x 87 cm, the larger ones circa 75 x 123 cm. Ertz, op. cit, p. 487, indicated two paintings as the likely prototypes; the first in a private collection in Neuilly (ibid., p. 488, no. 489, fig. 367) and the second in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (ibid., p. 488, no. 508, fig. 368). The first is dated 1615 and thus the earliest known version.