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Lot Essay
Bustling harbor scenes were a significant part of the work of both Breughel the Elder and Younger, but the present River landscape with windmills and ships is a unique composition. It is most assuredly an independent work by Jan Brueghel II in which he explores his own ability to interweave in a new way themes developed by his father.
Nevertheless, the composition does repeat motifs invented by the elder Brueghel. One such element is the windmill on the left shore, which derives from Breughel the Elder's Mills by the Roadside in the Palazzo Spada, Rome (K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Älter (1568-1625): die Gemälde mit kritischem oeuvrekatalog, Köln, 1979, pp. 63-64, 85, 164, cat. 151, no. 36). The red-shirted miller carrying a sack on his back as he trudges towards the river in the present panel reworks a similar figure (shown in reverse) in the Palazzo Spada picture. Other elements derived from the father's studio include the boats ferrying passengers across the river, and the windmills dotting the coastline.
Nevertheless, the composition does repeat motifs invented by the elder Brueghel. One such element is the windmill on the left shore, which derives from Breughel the Elder's Mills by the Roadside in the Palazzo Spada, Rome (K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Älter (1568-1625): die Gemälde mit kritischem oeuvrekatalog, Köln, 1979, pp. 63-64, 85, 164, cat. 151, no. 36). The red-shirted miller carrying a sack on his back as he trudges towards the river in the present panel reworks a similar figure (shown in reverse) in the Palazzo Spada picture. Other elements derived from the father's studio include the boats ferrying passengers across the river, and the windmills dotting the coastline.