Circle of Pieter Brueghel II (Brussels 1564/5-1637/8 Antwerp)
A brawl between peasants and Spaniards
oil on panel
17 ¾ x 26 1/8 in. (45 x 66.2 cm.)
Circle of Pieter Brueghel II (Brussels 1564/5-1637/8 Antwerp)
A brawl between peasants and Spaniards
oil on panel
17 ¾ x 26 1/8 in. (45 x 66.2 cm.)
with Walter Altschul, New York, 1971, where acquired by the grandparents of the present owner, and by descent.
Please note that the present work relates to a lost drawing by David Vinckboons (1576-1632). Vinckboons’ designs served as models for four engravings traditionally thought to have been produced by Boetius a Bolswert and generally interpreted as depicting the oppression of Dutch peasants by Spanish soldiers. Several panels based on these designs, dated to c. 1606-1610, are known to have been painted by Vinckboons and his workshop (see Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, invs. A-1351 and A-1352). That the engraving repeats the present composition in reverse indicates that the present panel was painted after Vinckboons’ as-yet-unidentified original design, either on paper or in oil, and not after the engraved version.
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