(Brussels 1564–1638 Antwerp)
The fat peasant and the peddler sitting on a bench, a Flemish proverb,
oil on panel, dm. 18 cm, framed

We are grateful to Klaus Ertz for having identified this painting as a work by Pieter Brueghel II. A certificate accompanies the present painting (September 2016).

The present tondo is simultaneously a charming display of peasant life and a humorous illustration of a Flemish proverb. A fat farmer, wearing two different caps, is sitting on a bench in front of a house, whilst a travelling salesman sits to his right, praising the goods – mainly flutes, jew’s harps and nets – he carries in an open trunk. The farmer appears not to be particularly enthralled by the offerings and apparently pushes the pedlar off his bench. In the background, there is a typical 16th century Flemish village square with its gabled and thatched cottages. Details like the window frame behind the farmer are captured with the meticulous attention so characteristic of Pieter’s work. The iconography of the present painting, immediately recognizable for a contemporary audience, has been interpreted in different ways. Ertz lists two following popular “labels” under which the proverb has been categorized: the most common is “Tout Mercier vante sa merchandise” (Every pedlar praises his goods), but also “Bedrog loont zijn Meester” (Betrayal returns to its master), whilst Ertz favours a less interpretive name for the composition – “the fat farmer and the salesman” (see: K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen, 1988/2000, vol. I, p. 95, for a discussion).

The composition was popularized through an engraving by Hieronymus Wiericx (see: K. Ertz, op. cit., p. 95, ill. 41). Wiericx included two inscriptions, one inside the scene between farmer and pedlar, and the other circling the outer border of the tondo. These record a fictional dialogue between the two protagonists. The dialogue reads: “A. Voicy des rets trôpes et fleutes; Telle denrée oncques vous neutes. B. Va ten mercier va ten d’icy; Ven ailleurs ta denrée aussi.“ The Flemish translation on the outside reads: “A. Hier netten ende trompen ja oock schoon fluijten, Gheen beter ware men nu hier in d’landt en vindt. B. Wech versiet u Cremere loopt elders sluijten, Daer f’volvk noch is hoorende doof en siende blindt.” By the inclusion of this written explanation, the iconography of the farmer not letting himself be lured into an unfavourable deal is made clear. It should also be noted that the offerings in the peddlers trunk add to the iconography of a dishonest salesman: nets and flutes were common symbols in the Netherlandish language for “catching a buyer” or “cheating”, whilst Jew’s harps – “trompen” – because of their etymological closeness to the French verb “tromper” for “cheating” – were a symbol of betrayal (see: K. Ertz, ibid.) The farmer on the left is characterized by the two caps he is wearing, possibly alluding to his limited intelligence. And yet, the pedlar has a hard time selling his offerings. 

Wierix‘s engraving seems to have been made directly from a drawing in the Eeckhout Collection, Ghent, which Ertz accepts as likely by Pieter II (see: K. Ertz, op. cit., p. 97, ill. 46; see fig. 1). This makes the present composition a rare example of a genuine invention by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. In most other paintings of this type, he was inspired either by drawings made by his father, paintings left in his father’s studio, or by Wiericx’ engravings, whereas this composition appears to have been his own idea. Ertz stresses this point, which is further underlined by the fact that in several other known versions of the subject Pieter always varied the backgrounds, a further argument for his free treatment of his own invention. Ertz cites two other versions of the composition as comparisons: one in Antwerp (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv. no. 872/6, oil on panel, diameter 17 cm), and another in Munich (Galerie Scheidwimmer, oil on panel, 18.4 cm). The motif does not appear in any of Pieter the Elder’s works, and it is not part of any of the larger collections of proverbs he painted. The farmer with his two caps, however, does appear in a large composition by Pieter the Younger (see: K. Ertz, op. cit., pp. 56/57, ill. 9).

Ertz concludes that Pieter the Younger can be accepted as the inventor of this scene. He was probably inspired by a drawing dated 1573 in the de Boer Archive (see: K. Ertz, op. cit., p .97, ill. 47), that cannot be by either father or son. Another possibility is of course that there was indeed a drawing by Pieter the Elder, now lost, that Wiericx used and which Pieter the Younger knew. Yet in cases like this, the son usually kept pretty close to his father’s models. Ertz observes that in one variant, (see: K. Ertz, op. cit., p .97, ill. 43), the motif of the begging monk in front of a dumb man’s house appears in the background, which was also featured in a Wiericx engraving (see: K. Ertz, op. cit., p. 97, ill. 48). This scene was also meant to illustrate human folly and stupidity. Ertz concludes that the iconography of the composition and hence of the present painting should be interpreted as a more general depiction of human folly, and that interpretations seeing the stupid farmer as rejecting the deception are perhaps a little overoptimistic. This is further underlined by the fact that a painting by David Vinckeboons (see: Ertz, op. cit., p. 97, ill. 49), which undoubtedly illustrates the same proverb, depicts the transaction as being almost complete: the stupid farmer already carries the jew’s harp whilst his other hand is reaching for his purse to pay. By painting scenes like this, which portrayed the day-to-day realities of Flemish peasant life and whose symbolic meaning was instantly recognizable for contemporary collectors, Brueghel was immensely successful.
He painted a number of these small round panels. They seem to have had resonance with a wide audience who bought these little pictures in pairs or in sets and for whom the prosaic imagery had a great appeal. Among the ninety works in this format considered autograph in Ertz’s monograph, only twenty-nine are signed. The round shape of the panel reflects its original purpose as a painted plate. It is an example of a tradition that was well known in the Netherlands at the time and in which specialists, called teljoorschilders, were recorded among the members of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke from 1570 to 1610. Approximately 70 survive from the 16th century, 20 of which are discussed by De Coo (see: ‘Die bemalten Holzteller, bekannte und neuentdeckte: ihr Schmuck und ihre Herkunft’, Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, XXXVII, 1975, pp. 103/4). The underlying subject matters of such plates are thought to be moralizing.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s early life was dominated by the genius of his father.  Pieter the Elder died prematurely in 1569 – “snatched away from us in the flower of his age”, as his great friend the geographer Abraham Ortelius relates – leaving his wife Mayken Coecke and two sons, Pieter the Younger, aged about four or five, and Jan, barely a year old. The two youngsters could scarcely have known their father, yet both of them followed in his footsteps and became painters. Pieter, we are told by Karel van Mander, studied with Gillis van Coninxloo in Antwerp, while Jan was taught in the art of painting miniatures by his grandmother, Mayken Verhulst. Both had prolific careers. Jan spent seven years in Italy, before settling in Antwerp, where he became a renowned painter of history subjects, landscapes and flower pieces in a style of his own that owed little to his father.  Pieter, by contrast, remained in Antwerp, where he set up a workshop and made a name for himself producing copies, versions and adaptations of his father’s works. In 1588, he married Elizabeth Goddelet, who bore him seven children, all of whom were baptised in the Sint-Andrieskerk in Antwerp between 1589 and 1597. Nine pupils are listed as having been trained in his workshop between 1588 and 1626, among them Frans Snyders and Gonzales Coques. His eldest son, Pieter III, who also became a painter, probably trained with his father before registering with the Guild of St. Luke in 1608.

Additional image:
Pieter Brueghel II, drawing in the Eeckhout Collection, Ghent