(Brussels 1564–1637/38 Antwerp)
Assault of a Peasant Couple,
oil on panel, 33 x 48 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Belgium

The present painting is accompanied by a certificate written by Dr. Klaus Ertz (as Pieter Brueghel the Younger). Dr. Ertz writes: “It makes a brilliant and fresh impression and is painted in the special technique of oil glazes typical of Flemish art, with the uppermost layer of white highlights (particularly distinctly visible in the foliage of the trees in the upper left and in the basket in the lower right) applied as a last and finishing step.” Ertz compares the painting with the following compositions by Pieter Brueghel the Younger: (1) Assault of a Peasant Couple, Universitets Konstsamling, Stockholm (K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel d. J., vol. II, Lingen 1988/2000, pp. 792/93, no. E 1089); (2) Assault of a Peasant Couple, sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 31 March 2009, lot 60 (circa 1616). Ertz continues: “Most of these paintings dealing with assaults or fights date from the period after 1616. This is evident by the signed compositions, in which the artist’s name is exclusively spelled ‘BREVGHEL”, whereas before 1616, Pieter the Younger exclusively used the spelling of ‘BRVEGHEL’...” A possible model for the present Assault may have been a composition that has been assigned to various artists and which Ertz (op. cit., p. 794, no. A 1101) now attributes to Marten van Cleve (collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, Vienna). Ertz: “The assault scene in the painting to be assessed may rely on an invention by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. None of the artists come into question apart from him – including Marten van Cleve and the sons Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder – can be expected to have conceived such a scene of drama and aggressiveness…” The painting has probably been reduced in size and therefore been cut down along the lower edge.