English: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 46:

Technical notes: The painting’s support consists of a thin copper plate with slightly irregularly cut edges. The verso of the support shows no signs of manufacture, but carries an as yet unidentified artist’s (?) monogram, “I S” or “S I”, in black ink at upper centre.

Paint is applied thinly in opaque and semi-transparent layers over a thin white ground. Infrared reflectography examination revealed a rapidly executed, sketchy dark underdrawing in a dry medium, probably black chalk, loosely delineating the main features of the landscape, trees, clouds, road and buildings (Fig. 2). The staffage of figures and horses was painted, without prior drawing, directly over the landscape. Pentimenti during the painting stage occur, for example, in the rooflines of the houses at right of centre, some of which were initially taller. The painting is in excellent condition. A slightly discoloured layer of old varnish is present. Slight abrasion and small losses of the paint and ground layers are visible along the edges; scattered small losses also occur throughout the sky.

Provenance: Donated by Mr. and Mrs. John Agelin, Stockholm 1979.

Bibliography: NM Bulletin 4, no.1 (1980), p. 8 (as Jacques Savery); NM Cat. 1990, p. 325 (as Jacques Savery I); Essen/Vienna/Antwerp 1997/1998, p. 238 (under cat. no. 67) [K. Ertz].

A road running beside a village leads to a watering-place in the foreground on the left, where horses and a wagon are depicted knee-deep in the water, while a herd of cattle is about to enter; several riders, a horse-drawn covered wagon and travellers on foot, a fashionably dressed company as well as peasants, move along the wide road in the foreground on the right. In the distance, the road continues through flat, open country.

This painting entered the collection – erroneously – as a work by the Dutch landscapist and genre painter Jacob Savery I, whose works are extremely rare. Landscapes with similar views of a country road with travellers near a village were a common theme in the work of the Brueghel family. It is seen notably in Jan I Brueghel’s Landscape with a Village Inn of c. 1615 in Munich (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek)1 and a composition, signed and dated 1616, in London (Wellington Museum), of which the present painting is a free copy – differing from the original mainly in the staffage of figures and animals.2 A miniature copy of rather mediocre quality, in composition and narrative detail immediately recognizable as being loosely in the style of Jan Brueghel I, the painting is not sufficiently fine to be attributed to Brueghel himself or his studio, and can only be the work of an unidentified 17th-century follower or imitator.3 Although clearly derived from Jan’s composition, the freely executed underdrawing (see Technical Notes) indicates that it is more of an “original” work, or pastiche, than a straight copy.

In addition to his panoramic “world landscapes”, Brueghel also painted more intimate, small-scale paintings with views of villages and of roads running through dense forests or open country reminiscent of his native Brabant, in the 16th-century Netherlandish landscape tradition, that of his father, Pieter Bruegel I and the so-called “Master of the Small Landscapes”. The latter’s two series of etchings, published in 1559 and 1561 (Holl. III, nos. 19-93), formerly attributed to Pieter Bruegel I, depict self-contained close-up views of Flemish villages with peasant dwellings, often aligned parallel to the picture plane. Jan opens up the picture space by introducing roads that lead into the distance. The rich staffage of figures and animals, moving along the diagonal axis of the road, enlivens the composition and increases the impression of depth. According to a favoured compositional scheme, half of the picture space – usually the left half – is occupied by trees and houses, while the other half of the composition opens up to a wide view of a distant landscape. Wheelock connects this new type of landscape composition to Brueghel’s journey to Holland c. 1613, where he might have come into contact with a new, more realistic conception of landscape painting.4 CF

1 Oil on copper, 32 x 44.5 cm, Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, inv. no. 826; see Renger 2002, p. 109, illus.; and Essen/Vienna 2003, cat. no. 70, repr. in colour on p. 201 [K. Renger]. 2 Oil on copper, 25.5 x 36.5 cm, signed “BRVEGHEL 1616”, London, Wellington Museum, Apsley House, inv. no. WM 1634-1948; see Ertz 1979, pp. 69, 70, 81, 82, 89, 151, 480, 608 no. 306, colour pl. 43, fig. 63 (det.); and Vienna/Essen/Antwerp 1997/1998, pp. 237–238 no. 67, repr. in colour on p. 239 [K. Ertz]. 3 The inscription in an old hand on the verso of the painting’s support, the letters “I S” in ligature, is unlikely to be an authentic artist’s signature (see Technical Notes). It has so far not been possible to identify this monogram. 4 See Washington/Cincinnati 1988/1989, under cat. no. 18 [A. Wheelock]. Jan Brueghel I. Circle of 46. Landscape with a Road through a Village Oil on oak, 27.1 x 37.9 Signed (lower right corner): […] 16(?)09 NM 370 technical notes: The painting’s support is an oak panel (±0.4 cm thick) constructed of a single radial board with horizontal grain. The panel has been thinned, and a cradle was attached in 1965. Partial bevelling occurs along the left, right and bottom edges on the back. Exposed worm holes and tunnels are visible on the back concentrated to a broad horizontal band across the centre. Three corners of the panel slightly damaged, and a small piece of wood missing at the lower right corner. Varnish has been applied to the back of the panel. Dendrochronological examination and analysis have determined a felling date for the tree between c. 1589 and 1599. The wood originates from the Baltic region. Under the assumption of a median of 15 sapwood rings and a minimum of 2 years for seasoning of the wood, the most plausible date for use of the panel would be 1597 or later. Paint is applied over a pale flesh-coloured ground in thin, opaque layers with minimal brushmarking. Examination with infrared reflectography did not reveal any evidence of underdrawing. Abrasion, wear and small losses of paint and ground are found along all four edges. Discoloured retouching covers scattered minor losses and abrasion, particularly in the sky. More extensive retouching occurs throughout the foreground area, in the open yard and farmhouses. An aged varnish layer is present. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1957 and 1965. provenance: Johan Gustaf Netzel, Stockholm, until 1867; bequeathed by J. G. Netzel in 1867, no. 9 (as Jan Brueghel I); KM 1861/1867, no. 1401.

Exhibited: Stockholm 2010, no. 41.

Bibliography: NM Cat. 1867, p. 25 (as Jan Brueghel I); Sander IV, p. 136; Göthe 1887, p. 35 (as Jan Brueghel I); Göthe 1893, p. 43; Granberg 1911–1913, II, p. 4 (as Jan Brueghel I); NM Cat. 1958, p. 30 (as Jan Brueghel I); NM Cat. 1990, p. 58 (as circle of Jan Brueghel I).

A country road winds its way through a typical Flemish village, with rustic peasant houses tucked away amongst the trees and a church tower visible in the distance on the right. A shepherd with his flock and a farm cart move along the road; other travellers and villagers gather outside an inn on the right. In the subject, composition and narrative detail, this painting is close to Jan Brueghel I in a work such as the signed Village Street of 1610 now in Munich (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pina kothek).1 In the period following his return from Italy, during the 1600s – in addition to his panoramic “world landscapes – Jan began to paint more intimate views of Flemish villages, with a low horizon line and of country roads with travellers running through dense forests or open country reminiscent of his native Brabant. Jan’s village views with peasant houses amongst trees on either side of a road are ultimately derived from an earlier Netherlandish tradition, of his father, Pieter Bruegel I, and the anonymous “Master of the Small Landscapes”.2 In the latter’s two series of landscape etchings (Holl. III, nos. 19-93) with self-contained, close-up views of villages and rustic farm buildings, drawn naer het leven in the environs of Antwerp, and published in 1559 and 1561 by Hieronymus Cock, the houses are usually arranged parallel to the picture plane. However, a few examples already display the wedge-shaped composition with a frontal view of a road leading into the interior of a village later adapted by Jan.3 In his own works Jan frequently opened up the picture space by introducing a well-travelled country road leading into the distance, thus increasing the impression of depth. The early dendrochronological date of the panel seems to indicate that the present painting is approximately contemporary with Jan Brueghel I, but the painting is coarse in quality and can only be the work of a follower or imitator. The – spurious – signature reported in the earliest literature on the painting (see Göthe 1887) has now become illegible and only the date “1609” can still be read. This date could conceivably correspond to an unidentified original by Brueghel. An attribution to Jan Brueghel II might be considered. CF

1 Oil on copper, 8.1 x 12.7 cm, signed “BRVEGHEL 1610”, Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, inv. no. 2860; for which see Ertz 1979, pp. 79, 218, 594 no. 217, fig. 269; and Renger and Denk 2002, p. 129, illus. 2 For a discussion of Jan I Brueghel’s village landscapes, see Ertz 1979, pp. 214–228. 3 Earlier attributed to Pieter Bruegel I. Etching and engraving, 134 x 202 mm, after the “Master of the Small Landscapes”, from the series Praediorum villarum et rusticarum casularum icones elegantissimae ad vivum in aere deformatae, published by Hieronymus Cock in 1561, Vienna, Graphische Sammlungen der Albertina, Inv. no. HB 56.3, fol. 20, 1957/181; see Bastelaer 1908, no. 55; and Vienna/Essen 2003, cat.nos. 27–30, repr. on p. 95.

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