1022 - Pieter Brueghel d. J., Umkreis

Pieter Brueghel d. J., Umkreis Pieter Brueghel the Younger, circle of The Outdoor Wedding Dance Oil on panel. 52 x 68 cm. Provenance Collection of General von Fabricius, Kiev. – His sale, Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, 4.12.1906, lot 45 (as P. Brueghel the Elder). – German private collection. Literature K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen, 1988/2000, vol. II, p. 732, no. A 986, ill. 986. Beneath the open sky, a large gathering has come together to celebrate. Dancing couples fill the foreground, while other guests watch the festivities, kiss, converse or turn away beneath the trees. To the left, beside a tree, a bagpiper sets the rhythm. The crowded composition, varied poses and vibrant colours lend the scene lively movement and narrative richness. The slightly elevated viewpoint brings the individual encounters together within a broader social setting. The 'Peasant Wedding Dance in the Open Air' is among the best-known depictions of peasant festivities from the circle of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A version dated 1566 in the Detroit Institute of Arts is the important reference work regarded as autograph (fig. 1, inv. no. 30.374). Pieter Brueghel the Younger and his Antwerp workshop continued the motif in numerous versions. The present painting, formerly in the collection of General von Fabricius in Kyiv, belongs to this later transmission and follows the composition transmitted through Pieter van der Heyden’s engraving after Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The painting’s particular quality lies in its combination of precise observation of social life with a powerful pictorial invention by Bruegel the Elder. With humorous detachment, the gathering also appears as an image of communal enjoyment, without the scene necessarily being understood as a statement on the confessional tensions of the period. The painting is recorded and illustrated in Klaus Ertz’s catalogue raisonné, where it is listed among works not attributed to the artist. For comparative illustrations, see the printed catalogue as well as the PDF version.