PIETER BRUEGHEL LE JEUNE (BRUXELLES 1564-1636 ANVERS)

Los 4
27.03.2025 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
VeranstaltungsortVereinigtes Königreich, London
Aufgeldsee on Website%
ID 1386942
Los 4 | PIETER BRUEGHEL LE JEUNE (BRUXELLES 1564-1636 ANVERS)
Schätzwert
€ 1 500 000 – 2 500 000
PIETER BRUEGHEL LE JEUNE (BRUXELLES 1564-1636 ANVERS)
Le Repas de noces
signé et daté '.P . BREVGHEL . 1622' (en bas, à gauche)
huile sur panneau
avec la marque de la ville d'Anvers et la marque du panelier Michiel Vrient (actif entre 1605 et 1637, reçu maître en 1615) (au revers du panneau)
74,3 x 106 cm (29 ¼ x 41 ¾ in.)




Provenance

Lord Sperling, en 1932 (selon le certificat d'authenticité fourni par la galerie Robert Finck).
Chez John Mitchell, Londres, Royaume-Uni, en 1958 (selon The Burlington Magazine, 1958, voir infra).
Collection particulière, Bruxelles, Belgique, en 1969 (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1969, voir infra).
Chez Galerie Robert Finck, Bruxelles, Belgique ;
Collection Onzea-Govaerts, Belgique (acquis auprès de celle-ci le 22 juin 1976).



Literature

The Burlington Magazine, mars 1958, C, 660, reproduit en noir et blanc p. VII.
G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Bruxelles, 1969 (posthume - mis au point et annoté par J. Folie), pp. 177-179, n°2, reproduit pp. 177-179, figs. 99-101.
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564-1637/38). Die Gemälde mit Kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Lingen, 1988-2000, II, p. 646, pp. 659-660 et p. 709, n°E857*, reproduit en couleurs pp. 652-653, figs. 524-525.



Exhibited

Bruxelles, Galerie Robert Finck, Pierre Breughel le Jeune dans les collections privées belges, 19 avril-18 mai 1969, n°15.
Essen, Kulturstiftung Ruhr, Villa Hügel ; Vienne, Kunsthistorisches Museum ; Anvers, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Pieter Breughel der Jüngere – Jan Brueghel der Ältere. Flämische Malerei um 1600. Tradition und Fortschritt, 16 août-16 novembre 1997 ; 7 décembre 1997-14 avril 1998 ; 2 mai-26 juillet 1998, n°135 (Essen et Vienne) et n°140 (Anvers).



Further details

PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER (1564-1636), THE PEASANT WEDDING, OIL ON PANEL, SIGNED AND DATED (LOWER LEFT), WITH THE MARK OF THE CITY OF ANTWERP AND OF THE PANEL MAKER MICHIEL VRIENT (ACTIVE BETWEEN 1605 AND 1637, MASTER IN 1615) (ON THE REVERSE)

There are only four versions by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1636) of this festive composition, imbued with all the joie de vivre of the artist's distinctive style.

In this composition, Brueghel depicts a typical wedding feast of his day. As can be deduced from the two sheaves of wheat hanging on the wall, the celebration is taking place after the harvest, a favored time for weddings because of the association with fecundity. The blushing bride is seated at the centre of the table, beneath a paper crown. Hands clasped and eyes downcast, tradition dictated that she remain silent and thoughtful amongst her guests. To the bride's right, the notary is seated on a raised chair; his neighbour, a Franciscan monk, is talking with the local squire, whose dog can be seen hiding under the table. As for the groom, an initial interpretation of the composition might suggest him to be the figure on the left pouring beer, as at the time it was customary for the groom to serve the guests and not join the bride until evening. It has been argued, however, that the finer features of this figure point to him being the squire's servant instead (see K. Ertz in Pieter Breughel der Jüngere - Jan Brueghel der Ältere. Flämische Malerei um 1600. Tradition und Fortschritt, [cat. exp.], Lingen, 1997, p. 386). It is entirely possible that he doesn't appear in the composition at all, as this focuses on the table, where the groom did not traditionally sit.

The Peasant Wedding takes as its model the painting of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569), executed around 1568. The original painting remained in Brussels until 1594, when it entered the collection of Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553-1595). It subsequently passed into the hands of Rudolf II (1552-1612), Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and remained in the possession of the Habsburgs before being transferred to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it is still considered a jewel in the collection.

Of the four known versions of The Peasant Wedding by the son, only the present version is dated. The year, ‘1622’, corresponds to the spelling of the name in the signature 'P. BREVGHEL' (before 1616 he signed ‘BRVEGHEL’). The spelling of his name appears in the same way on the version of the painting currently in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, allowing this to be similarly dated to the latter period of the artist's career. However, as Klaus Ertz points out (op. cit. supra, p. 646), it seems unlikely to conclude from the dates of these two paintings that Pieter Brueghel the Younger only tackled this subject later in life. It is more plausible to imagine that the artist had already taken up this composition in the nineties, when his father's painting was still in Brussels. Given the repetition of distinctive colour choices between the respective works, it seems highly probable that the son had previously made versions directly from the original. It would be astonishing to suggest, for example, that Pieter Breughel the Younger painted the shirt sleeves of the figure pouring beer on the left in red by chance, or that he decided to fill the bowls with white porridge, as in the original.

Nevertheless, the son gave his own twist to his famous father's composition. Pieter Breughel the Younger's preference for bright reds is markedly clear, where his father dressed the man sitting in the middle of the composition putting a spoon in his mouth and his companion at the end of the table in black and gray, here they are in jaunty scarlet. Another feature of the son's work that differentiates it from his father's is his avoidance of large areas of smooth ground. Instead, he preferred to punctuate these by drawing small cracks in the dry earth, which has the effect of transforming this area into a decorative element of the composition. The younger artist also chose to include a slightly more daring motif not found in his father's composition. Hidden in the shadows at upper left, a kissing couple serves as a foil to the bride's virtue, which is at the heart of the painting. Such changes transform the character of the original painting, which is more reserved, into a boisterous celebration of life.
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