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Lot Essay
This delightful depiction of peasants harvesting, stacking, and storing their grain, picnicking near their fields, shearing sheep, with others bathing in the river beyond reflects Jacob Grimmer's familiarity with the rhythms of life in the Flemish countryside. Walter Gibson and Reine de Bertier de Sauvigny first proposed the attribution to Grimmer when this painting appeared at auction in 1999 (see Provenance), noting the composition’s relationship to another Allegory of Summer in the Landesmuseum, Salzburg (see R. de Bertier de Sauvigny, Jacob et Abel Grimmer catalogue raisonné, Brussels, 1991, p. 20, pl. 2.). Both works employ a small cluster of trees at center to divide the composition, with further registers separated by broad blocks of color. The winding river disappearing into the distance at left and the gentle slope of the hills rising at right work in concert with the coloristic effects and structural conceits to create a sense of expansiveness in the unfolding landscape.
When this work reappeared on the Munich art market in 2000, it was given an attribution to Peeter Baltens, a frequent collaborator of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The motif of a central tree to structure a composition is also found in Baltens' A village fair (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, inv. no. 7631) and Landscape with Satan sowing tares (Private collection); however, an attribution to Balten has recently been dismissed by Stephen J. Kostyshyn (Private communication, March 2025).
The figures—likely painted by a different hand—take inspiration from Pieter Bruegel the Elder, whose compositions would have been well known to Grimmer, either through the paintings produced by the former's extensive workshop or, more likely, through widely circulated prints. The man drinking from the jug at center and the farmer seen from behind cutting wheat with a scythe are borrowed from Bruegel’s Summer (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, fig. 1), while the cheeky nude boy pickpocketing the sleeping man recalls The Sleeping Pedler Robbed by Monkeys (The British Museum, London, fig. 2). At the time of the 1999 sale, it was speculated that the figures were painted by Gillis Mostaert. Marten van Cleve has also been suggested as a possible collaborator—the distinctive expressive eyes and red noses, particularly of the children, recall the features of his own figures.
When this work reappeared on the Munich art market in 2000, it was given an attribution to Peeter Baltens, a frequent collaborator of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The motif of a central tree to structure a composition is also found in Baltens' A village fair (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, inv. no. 7631) and Landscape with Satan sowing tares (Private collection); however, an attribution to Balten has recently been dismissed by Stephen J. Kostyshyn (Private communication, March 2025).
The figures—likely painted by a different hand—take inspiration from Pieter Bruegel the Elder, whose compositions would have been well known to Grimmer, either through the paintings produced by the former's extensive workshop or, more likely, through widely circulated prints. The man drinking from the jug at center and the farmer seen from behind cutting wheat with a scythe are borrowed from Bruegel’s Summer (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, fig. 1), while the cheeky nude boy pickpocketing the sleeping man recalls The Sleeping Pedler Robbed by Monkeys (The British Museum, London, fig. 2). At the time of the 1999 sale, it was speculated that the figures were painted by Gillis Mostaert. Marten van Cleve has also been suggested as a possible collaborator—the distinctive expressive eyes and red noses, particularly of the children, recall the features of his own figures.