(Brussels 1564–1638 Antwerp)
A drunkard being led home by his wife,
oil on panel, tondo, diameter 16.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Geneva, until 2019

We are grateful to Luuk Pijl for confirming the attribution of the present painting. A written certificate (October 2019) is available.

Pijl writes: ‘The present, beautifully preserved, roundel, representing a drunk forced home by his wife, is a welcome addition to the oeuvre of Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The subject is known by two other versions which are both painted on horizontal oblong panels a large one, panel 76 x 104 cm, was last seen in the Parisian trade in 1989, while the other, panel 41 x 65 cm, is in the Montreal Museum of Arts. The last is signed: P.BREVGHEL, which indicates a date after 1616. It is important to note that our painting was conceived as a roundel. This is evident by the beveling around the edge of the reverse of the support. This rather rough beveling is executed by a chisel and is common for early 17th century wooden supports and can be seen on other roundels painted by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The size of the current painting tallies with the several tondi by Pieter Brueghel the Younger with proverbs or the depiction of crafts. It is difficult to date the present work. It is certainly not a study for the other two works with the subject and a date somewhere during the 1620’s is certainly feasible. In our painting the peaceful church, birds pecking in the snow and peasant workers going about their business contrasts with the drunken brawl before the inn, and the wife berating her husband as she escorts him home. The foreground abounds in sexual symbolism: the sloppy attire and grasped sword of the young husband being caught, the pipes carried by the boy, and the slit tree trunk with a pole nearby would all have been readily interpreted by Brueghel’s contemporaries.

Pieter Brueghel junior painted numerous copies after his father Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s work as well as original compositions: landscapes, religious subjects, proverbs and village scenes. As such he contributed to the international spread of his father’s imagery. Several important art historians knew the Montreal version and they all suggested that Pieter the Younger copied a now lost painting by his father. It seems however more plausible that the present composition is an invention by the younger Brueghel emulating the ideas of his famous father’.