Studio of Pieter Brueghel II (Brussels 1564/5-1637/8 Antwerp)

Hitherto unrecorded, the present picture joins a number of other versions of the subject produced by Brueghel and his studio between 1615 and 1630. The composition, which became one of the artist's most popular, is thought to have been invented by himself rather than derived from his father. This picture is of special interest for being signed, albeit indistinctly, by an independent artist from Brueghel's studio: the only version to have been signed in this way. Only one other version is dated 1622, this being the latest work that is accepted as autograph by Klaus Ertz (see K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen, 2000, I, p. 513, no. E507, illustrated).