Circle of Pieter Brueghel II (Brussels c. 1564-1637/8 Antwerp)

Known through its numerous versions, this composition is a studio variant of originals by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, of which Klaus Ertz accepts only seven as painted by the artist himself in his recent monograph. Perhaps the largest known treatment of this composition, Hulin de Loo and Friedländer believe that the prototype possibly derives from a lost work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, an argument supported by previously found false Pieter Bruegel the Elder signatures and dates to the 1550s. The popularity of the subject is attested to by the number of extant copies, with Ertz listing twenty-eight versions of this design. In the foreground, villagers gather around a theatre to watch the farce Een Cluyte van Plaeyerwater (‘A Clod from Plaeyerwater’), shown at its climax when the cuckolded husband Werenbracht unveils himself to his unfaithful wife and her lover, the local priest.