Christie’s Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale London, 2 December 2014
Dated 1610, this exceptionally well-preserved work is the earliest
version of one of the rarest and most dynamic of Pieter Brueghel the
Younger’s subjects: The Country Brawl, known in French asLa Rixe (estimate:£700,000-1
million). This painting comes to the market for the first time since
1928 when it was acquired by Baron Evence III Coppée (1882-1945) of
Brussels, having since passed by descent to the present owner. Described
by Dr. Klaus Ertz as ‘une merveilleuse version de 1610’, he places it
within his catalogue raisonné at
the head of ten autograph versions of the composition, four of which
are in museums: Montpellier, Musée Fabre; Prague, Národní galerie,
Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie; and
Philadelphia, Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection. Only eight of
these works are dated and only five are signed and dated. All of the
dated versions were painted in the same four-year period, 1619-1622,
with the exception of the present work. The form of the signature, using
the spelling ‘BRVEGHEL’, is unique amongst the various versions, the
other signed ones using the spelling ‘BREVGHEL’, which seems to have
been adopted by Pieter Brueghel the Younger only after circa 1616.
The date of 1610 gives the present work a special status within the
context of the known versions of this subject. Executed during this
earlier period of Brueghel’s activity, the Coppée picture is
distinguished by its highly elaborate under-drawing (visible in infrared
refectography), its extraordinary attention to detail and the high
quality of its execution. These factors combine to make this not only
the earliest, but also the finest of all the known versions of this
extraordinarily powerful composition.
The Good Shepherd
Long believed by many scholars to be a work in whole or in part by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Good Shepherd is one of the rarest subjects in the oeuvre of
his son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger (estimate: £800,000-1.2 million).
No drawn or painted prototype for the composition by the Elder exists,
suggesting that this is an original invention by Pieter the Younger,
doubtless conceived in relation to The Bad Shepherd,
which exists in a unique version by Pieter the Younger. Together the
two compositions can be considered one of the personal masterpieces of
Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s art; their outstanding compositional and
philosophical excellence eloquently accounts for the desire of so many
past experts to see in them the authorship of the artist’s illustrious
father.The Good Shepherd exists
in only three versions, making it a great rarity in a body of work
which often comprises prolific repetition of ‘iconic’ compositions. Of the two other versions of The Good Shepherd,
one work, signed and dated 1616, is in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts
de Belgique in Brussels; the other, restituted to the heirs of Ernst
and Gisella Pollack of Vienna in 2001, is now in a private collection.
Sotheby’s London 3rd Dec. 2014
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1637/8) features with two pictures, including a late work, A Village Street with peasants dancing. This is a rare example of a unique composition in Brueghel’s oeuvre, and is entirely of his own devising. When sold from the Belper collection in 1973, it fetched the then huge sum of £157,500, and set an auction record for a work by Brueghel. Five years later, in 1978, it broke its own record when it was sold for £260,000. This winter, it will be offered for sale with an estimate of £700,000 to £1 million (lot 3, est. €890,000-1,270,000 / $1,130,000- 1,610,000).
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER
TWELFTH NIGHT
Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 GBP
London
In this huge and deeply moving painting Pieter Brueghel sets out the scene of Christ’s crucifixion as narrated by the Gospels. Realised in 1615, this oil on oak panel ranks among the rarest of all Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s compositions. It is one of only two signed works which deal with the subject of the Crucifixion. Only four certainly autograph versions of this precise composition are known, and Calvary is by common consent the finest (est. £3-4 million/ €3,650,000-4,860,000/ $5,020,000-6,690,000).
_-_WGA03635.jpg/800px-Pieter_Brueghel_the_Younger_-_Peasant_Wedding_Dance_(Brussel)_-_WGA03635.jpg)
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Outdoor Wedding Dance,
Oil on oak panel, 41.6 by 62 cm.; 16⅜ by 24⅜ in. (est. £1-1.5 million)
The Outdoor Wedding Dance belongs to a series of pictures painted by the Brueghels which depict different episodes during a wedding day - a tradition founded by Pieter Bruegel the Elder whose Wedding Banquet of 1568 (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) (below) is undoubtedly the most famous example. The present work has long been recognised as one of the most popular works in Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s oeuvre and Georges Marlier, the great scholar of Flemish art, went so far as to describe this painting as “one of the most popular of all subjects in Flemish painting at the beginning of the seventeenth century”1. With over sixty known versions on the subject, the Coppée version - most likely executed in the 1610s - is one of the finest to have survived, and remains in a remarkable state of preservation (est. £1-1.5 million/ €1,220,000-1,830,000/ $1,680,000-2,510,000).
Winter landscape with a bird trap
This painting is not only one of the best loved of all the inventions of the Brueghel dynasty, but in its beautiful depiction of a winter’s day, also one of the most enduring images in Western art. It owes its fame to its extraordinary evocation of the atmosphere of a cold winter’s day. It is one of only eight panels which have the distinction of being both signed and dated. Painted in 1626, it is the latest in date of those so far known (est. £1-1.5 million/ € 1,220,000-1,830,000/ $1,680,000-2,510,000).
Sotheby's January 30 2104
Sotheby's January 30 2104
Pieter
Brueghel the Younger’s interpretation of Summer must be considered
one of his most popular and successful subjects, and Summer: Figures at
Rest during the Summer Harvest, is perhaps the finest and most impeccably preserved
examples to emerge in decades (est. $2.5/3.5 million, right). This panel,
signed and dated 1600, is the earliest of the approximately 20
variations on the composition, which strongly suggests that it is the prime
version of the group. The present example alludes to his father’s famous
painting of the Harvesters,
now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art .
Sotheby's January 2013
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER
THE SEVEN ACTS OF MERCY
LOT SOLD. 2,210,500 USD
Artcurial November 13 2013
Pieter Brueghel the Younger ( 1564 - 1637/8) :
Payment of the Tithes or The Village Lawyer
oil on parquet panel 74 x 123cm, signed
and dated 1615
(estimate : € 300,000
- 400,000 ).
This
Payment of the Tithe , in exceptional
condition, is considered the earliest version of this famous subject
among the score known. Its signature is
also of particular interest: around 1616
the artist altered the spelling of his name from BRVEGHEL to BREVGHEL, and t his
panel is unique among versions of the
Payment of the Tithes as the only one to be signed BRVEGHEL.
Christie’s Old Master Paintings sale in New York on June 5, 2013
Pieter Brueghel II's The Wedding Dance ,
up for sale, (estimate: $2,000,000-3,000,000) can be viewed as a record
of daily peasant life in the 16th-century Netherlands, or as a genre
scene rife with allegorical and symbolic meaning, with overtones warning
against drinking, over-indulgence, and lust. The work depicts a
bustling party in which a large group celebrates a newly married couple;
whirling dancers occupy the foreground as the bride sits at the center
with a crown atop her head, denoting her special status as “Queen for
the day.” She watches as those surrounding her place pewter coins on a
plate in front of her, while eager onlookers greedily survey the
offerings.
The Drunkard pushed into the Pigsty (estimate:
$500,000-700,000) is similarly meant to convey a moralizing message in
its portrayal of a Flemish proverb. The combination of drunkenness,
gluttony, and lust is referred to in the iconography of the work, as the
pig has long been connected with excess. Despite the didactic meaning
of the work, The Drunkard pushed into the Pigsty reflects
Brueghel’s unique ability to project a sympathetic and humorous attitude
toward human weakness and folly. This picture is one of only two
extant autograph versions and the only one remaining in private hands.
Sotheby's 2012
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER
THE TOWER OF BABEL
Estimate 
2,000,000 — 3,000,000
2,000,000 — 3,000,000
Sotheby's 2011
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER
THE VILLAGE LAWYER'S OFFICE
Sotheby's 2010
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER
THE KERMESSE OF SAINT GEORGE WITH THE DANCE AROUND THE MAYPOLE
Estimate 800,000 — 1,200,000 GBP
LOT SOLD. 881,250 GBP
Christie's July 8 2014
PIETER BRUEGHEL II (BRUSSELS 1564/5-1637/8 ANTWERP)
THE ROAD TO CALVARY
Estimate $8,570,000 - $11,998,000 Price Realized $9,440,824
Christie's 2010
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER (BRUSSELS 1564/65-1637/38 ANTWERP)
AUTUMN: AN ALLEGORY OF ONE OF THE FOUR SEASONS
Estimate $200,000 - $300,000 Price Realized $866,500
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER (BRUSSELS 1564/65-1637/38 ANTWERP)
THE BLIND HURDY-GURDY PLAYER
Estimate $200,000 - $300,000 Price Realized $578,500
Christie's 2003
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER (BRUSSELS C.1564-1637 ANTWERP)
A WINTER LANDSCAPE WITH PEASANTS SKATING AND PLAYING KOLF ON A FROZEN RIVER, A TOWN BEYOND
Estimate $1,000,000 - $1,500,000 Price Realized $1,219,500
