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拍品專文
This newly recognized painting by Pieter Brueghel II is based on a composition by Pieter Bruegel I (sold Christie’s, London, 10 July 2002, lot 37). In his catalogue raisonné on the younger Brueghel’s work, Klaus Ertz published eight versions of this composition, four of which he considered autograph, plus a ninth autograph variant of Pieter II’s own design (see K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere (1564-1637/38): Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, I, Lingen, 1988/2000, pp. 207-209, nos. E108-A116).
Pieter II would have known his father’s version of the subject from both the original, which belonged to his master, Gillis van Coninxloo II, and an engraving by Johannes Wierix. The painting probably once formed part of a series. Other versions of this subject, like that in Bamberg Historiches Museum, were designed as part of a set of four, with the other roundels showing The Arrow Maker, The Bread Eater and The Gift. Each of these subjects possessed a moralizing message: The Arrow Maker is assumed to have referred to the foolishness of human division, in particular the division of the Spanish Netherlands; The Bread Eater is thought, from the old man at the window and the broken tree sprouting anew, to be a memento mori; and The Gift as a warning against vanity and folly, the bed in the background suggesting what the woman might give for the mirror that she covets.
This painting likewise carries an overtly moralizing message, based on a popular Netherlandish proverb: ‘The pig must go into the stall’. An engraving of the subject by Claes Jansz. Visscher was accompanied by a quatrain, explaining more completely the moral significance (possibly adapted from a lost inscription originally on the frame of Pieter Bruegel I’s work): ‘Die haer goet als droncken Swynen Brengen door in Venus Kott Moeten nae elendich quynen Endelyck int Varckensschott’ ('Those who, like drunken pigs, waste their time and good in the house of Venus, will in the end have to be pushed, after miserable decay, into the pigsty'). The combination of drunkenness, gluttony and lust is all referred to in the iconography of this picture. These vices of excess – gastronomic, alcoholic and, by extension, sexual – had long been associated with pigs in Northern European culture. During the Carnival season, the consumption of pork greatly increased as part of the celebrations, constituting an excessive indulgence for the majority of the population who were not usually able to afford such a luxury. This in turn led to an increased concern over the lowering of morals since an over-consumption of meat was considered to stimulate an overactive carnal appetite. Those indulging in drunkenness, lasciviousness and excess were frequently described as pigs. A popular sixteenth-century saying referred to ‘een vermoordt dronckaert als een zwijn’ ('a besotted drunkard like a swine') and popular plays and poems made frequent use of such analogies.
We are grateful to Klaus Ertz for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs. A copy of his certificate dated 24 March 2023 is available upon request.
Pieter II would have known his father’s version of the subject from both the original, which belonged to his master, Gillis van Coninxloo II, and an engraving by Johannes Wierix. The painting probably once formed part of a series. Other versions of this subject, like that in Bamberg Historiches Museum, were designed as part of a set of four, with the other roundels showing The Arrow Maker, The Bread Eater and The Gift. Each of these subjects possessed a moralizing message: The Arrow Maker is assumed to have referred to the foolishness of human division, in particular the division of the Spanish Netherlands; The Bread Eater is thought, from the old man at the window and the broken tree sprouting anew, to be a memento mori; and The Gift as a warning against vanity and folly, the bed in the background suggesting what the woman might give for the mirror that she covets.
This painting likewise carries an overtly moralizing message, based on a popular Netherlandish proverb: ‘The pig must go into the stall’. An engraving of the subject by Claes Jansz. Visscher was accompanied by a quatrain, explaining more completely the moral significance (possibly adapted from a lost inscription originally on the frame of Pieter Bruegel I’s work): ‘Die haer goet als droncken Swynen Brengen door in Venus Kott Moeten nae elendich quynen Endelyck int Varckensschott’ ('Those who, like drunken pigs, waste their time and good in the house of Venus, will in the end have to be pushed, after miserable decay, into the pigsty'). The combination of drunkenness, gluttony and lust is all referred to in the iconography of this picture. These vices of excess – gastronomic, alcoholic and, by extension, sexual – had long been associated with pigs in Northern European culture. During the Carnival season, the consumption of pork greatly increased as part of the celebrations, constituting an excessive indulgence for the majority of the population who were not usually able to afford such a luxury. This in turn led to an increased concern over the lowering of morals since an over-consumption of meat was considered to stimulate an overactive carnal appetite. Those indulging in drunkenness, lasciviousness and excess were frequently described as pigs. A popular sixteenth-century saying referred to ‘een vermoordt dronckaert als een zwijn’ ('a besotted drunkard like a swine') and popular plays and poems made frequent use of such analogies.
We are grateful to Klaus Ertz for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs. A copy of his certificate dated 24 March 2023 is available upon request.