.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Last seen in public at auction in 1934, this is Pieter Brueghel II's last known dated work. A composition entirely of the artist's own invention, it is also highly unusual in having only one known variant, recorded only from a photograph when in the Goldschmidt collection in 1920 (as was the present work also), which differs most noticeably in the substitution of a manor house for the church in the background. The two otherwise stand alone in Brueghel's oeuvre and represent perhaps the artist's furthest foray into pure rustic landscape. In this development, Pieter was following - or even leading - his younger contemporaries, for example his nephew Jan Brueghel II and Adriaen van Stalbemt, in a tradition that would develop through the century with the work of artists such as Pieter Gysels and even Joseph van Bredael. Within Pieter's own oeuvre the composition may be regarded as stemming from the later village scenes of varying compositions and subjects that are linked by the device of reflections in water that seems to have been increasingly popular in Brueghel's repertoire and that recurs less centrally in the present work.
Unusually, the four figures in the foreground are connected with a known drawing (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, inv. no. 2; see fig. 1). Given by Münz to Pieter II (L. Münz, Brueghel Drawings, London, 1961, no. A51, fig. 202), an attribution with which Marlier hesitantly concurred (G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 291, fig. 120), its attribution has more recently been questioned by Klaus Ertz (loc. cit.), who suggests instead the possibility that it may be by Pieter's brother, Jan Brueghel I, noting that the latter employed the central figures of the group in his Wedding Dance in the Open Air (private collection, England; see ibid., p. 745, fig. 580). Dr Ertz also notes that this would not preclude Münz's theory that the drawing may itself be a copy of an unknown work by the artist's father, Pieter Brueghel I. If true, this would suggest that Pieter II may have used either his father's prototype or his brother's drawing as the basis for the present work.
Following this painting's last sale at auction, it was acquired by the noted Dutch collector Isaac de Bruijn-Van der Leeuw, celebrated in particular for his bequest to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. It would, however, be unjust to consider De Bruijn merely a collector; even from his initial major purchase of the collection of Jan Veth in 1922, he had begun to research the complications of Rembrandt's painted and printed oeuvre at a time when research into the graphic arts was being published more extensively than ever before. In this way, and also through assembling a notable library on Rembrandt's work, De Bruijn became an academic who corresponded frequently with the many experts in the field including most regularly Arthur M. Hind, the Keeper at the British Museum, and his old friend Arthur W. Heintzelmann, the Keeper of the Public Library in Boston.
The earliest recorded confirmation that his collection would be left to the Rijksmuseum dates from 1928. As noted, the collection was begun in 1922, when De Bruijn retreated from professional life and settled in Switzerland. Later he would explain how he had given serious thought to forming a collection about Goethe, but that it was Jan Veth (who painted De Bruijn's portrait) who had awakened in him an interest in Rembrandt's graphic work, resulting in the best pieces from Veth's own collection forming the core of his own.
His print collection grew in approximately fifteen years into the most comprehensive and high quality in private hands and remains today extroadinary in scope. He did not limit himself to prints alone, however, but also assembled a small selection of carefully chosen paintings and drawings. Over the years he came to own drawings by Rembrandt, as well as two of the latter's paintings, namely those of Saskia and his Self-Portrait as Saint Paul, the majority of the collection having been formed by 1932. De Bruijn's bequest to the Rijksmuseum included twenty paintings, thirty-two drawings, about five-hundred etchings, eighteen pieces of furniture and objects of vertu; this donation was made in 1949 on the understanding that it would remain anonymous in their lifetime. The paintings given included, amongst others, the two aforementioned Rembrandts, a Quinten Matsys, an Adriaen Isenbrandt, a Cornelis Ketel, a Jan Steen, two Gerard Terborchs (A Seated Young Woman and A Lady before a Mirror), two Emmanuel de Wittes, a Nicolaes Maes and Adriaen Brouwer's The Smokers.
The reverse of the panel is stamped with a three-leafed clover (see fig. 2). This panel maker's mark was used by Michiel Claessen (active 1590-1637). The profession of panel making was a vibrant craft in Antwerp in the late 16th century and the first half of the 17th century. Claessen, who was the initiator of the law of panel-maker marks in Antwerp, was amongst the most renowned craftsmen in this field.
Unusually, the four figures in the foreground are connected with a known drawing (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, inv. no. 2; see fig. 1). Given by Münz to Pieter II (L. Münz, Brueghel Drawings, London, 1961, no. A51, fig. 202), an attribution with which Marlier hesitantly concurred (G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 291, fig. 120), its attribution has more recently been questioned by Klaus Ertz (loc. cit.), who suggests instead the possibility that it may be by Pieter's brother, Jan Brueghel I, noting that the latter employed the central figures of the group in his Wedding Dance in the Open Air (private collection, England; see ibid., p. 745, fig. 580). Dr Ertz also notes that this would not preclude Münz's theory that the drawing may itself be a copy of an unknown work by the artist's father, Pieter Brueghel I. If true, this would suggest that Pieter II may have used either his father's prototype or his brother's drawing as the basis for the present work.
Following this painting's last sale at auction, it was acquired by the noted Dutch collector Isaac de Bruijn-Van der Leeuw, celebrated in particular for his bequest to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. It would, however, be unjust to consider De Bruijn merely a collector; even from his initial major purchase of the collection of Jan Veth in 1922, he had begun to research the complications of Rembrandt's painted and printed oeuvre at a time when research into the graphic arts was being published more extensively than ever before. In this way, and also through assembling a notable library on Rembrandt's work, De Bruijn became an academic who corresponded frequently with the many experts in the field including most regularly Arthur M. Hind, the Keeper at the British Museum, and his old friend Arthur W. Heintzelmann, the Keeper of the Public Library in Boston.
The earliest recorded confirmation that his collection would be left to the Rijksmuseum dates from 1928. As noted, the collection was begun in 1922, when De Bruijn retreated from professional life and settled in Switzerland. Later he would explain how he had given serious thought to forming a collection about Goethe, but that it was Jan Veth (who painted De Bruijn's portrait) who had awakened in him an interest in Rembrandt's graphic work, resulting in the best pieces from Veth's own collection forming the core of his own.
His print collection grew in approximately fifteen years into the most comprehensive and high quality in private hands and remains today extroadinary in scope. He did not limit himself to prints alone, however, but also assembled a small selection of carefully chosen paintings and drawings. Over the years he came to own drawings by Rembrandt, as well as two of the latter's paintings, namely those of Saskia and his Self-Portrait as Saint Paul, the majority of the collection having been formed by 1932. De Bruijn's bequest to the Rijksmuseum included twenty paintings, thirty-two drawings, about five-hundred etchings, eighteen pieces of furniture and objects of vertu; this donation was made in 1949 on the understanding that it would remain anonymous in their lifetime. The paintings given included, amongst others, the two aforementioned Rembrandts, a Quinten Matsys, an Adriaen Isenbrandt, a Cornelis Ketel, a Jan Steen, two Gerard Terborchs (A Seated Young Woman and A Lady before a Mirror), two Emmanuel de Wittes, a Nicolaes Maes and Adriaen Brouwer's The Smokers.
The reverse of the panel is stamped with a three-leafed clover (see fig. 2). This panel maker's mark was used by Michiel Claessen (active 1590-1637). The profession of panel making was a vibrant craft in Antwerp in the late 16th century and the first half of the 17th century. Claessen, who was the initiator of the law of panel-maker marks in Antwerp, was amongst the most renowned craftsmen in this field.