GEMÄLDE ALTER MEISTER 18. SEPTEMBER 2026

44 3025* JAN BRUEGHEL the Elder (Brussels 1568–1625 Antwerp) The road to market. 1606 Oil on copper. Signed and dated below left: BRVEGHEL 1606. On the verso of the copper plate: stamp of Pieter Stas with the date 1606. 29.5 × 44 cm Provenance: - Auction Philips, Sussex, 1822 (verso with label). - Collection John Vivian (1925–2005), 4th Baron Swansea. - Auction Sotheby‘s, London, 6 July 1966, Lot 117. - Collection Lady Beamish. - Auction Sotheby‘s, London, 11 July 1979, Lot 15. - Private collection, Great Britain. - Auction Christie‘s, London, 3 December 1997, Lot 15. - With Gallery Richard Green, London. - Non-European collection. Exhibited: London 1999, The Cabinet Picture, Gallery Richard Green. Literature: - Exh. cat. The Cabinet Picture, London 1999, pp. 166–67, with ill. no. 189. - Klaus Ertz: Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Cologne 1979, p. 580, cat. no. 136. - Weltkunst, May 2000, p. 885. - Klaus Ertz und Christa Nitze-Ertz: Jan Brueghel der Ältere (1568-1625). Kritischer Katalog der Gemälde, Bd. I, Lingen 2008, pp. 124–25, no. 30 (with ill.). Between 1603 and 1607, Jan Brueghel the Elder explored the theme of the ‘Road to Market’ in a series of expansive landsca- pes populated by numerous figures carrying baskets and eart- henware jugs, laden carts and travellers on horseback. In the- se works, he developed the 16th-century tradition of the world landscape, gradually dissolving the formerly clear distinction between the individual spatial planes through colour and lowe- ring the horizon. These developments can also be seen in the present landsca- pe, signed and dated 1606. Alongside market-goers carrying their wares towards the small town visible in the middle ground are elegantly dressed noblemen on horseback, armed with guns and swords. One of them, wearing a feathered hat, has dismounted while his servant adjusts his spurs. The present painting can be compared with a slightly smaller landscape of 1604, likewise painted on copper and now in the Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein (inv. no. 561; see Ertz 2008, pp. 120–21, no. 28, ill.). Its composition, with a winding road leading around a central group of deciduous trees, deri- ves from a drawing of circa 1595/96, ‘Landscape with Tobias and the Angel’, in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest (Ertz 2008, pp. 122–23, no. 29, ill.). In this drawing, Brueghel first explored a compositional idea that would become characteristic of his sub- sequent ‘Road to Market’ paintings. Both in the Liechtenstein painting and in the landscape offered here, the viewpoint has been lowered, drawing the viewer more directly into the scene. Brueghel developed this approach further in 1605 in ‘Attack by Bandits on the Road to Market’, now in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, which features a town in the distance comparable to that in the present work. The mark of the copper-plate maker Pieter Stas (1587–1610) and the date 1606 on the reverse provide further evidence for the da- ting of both the copper support and the painting itself. It is also worth noting that this auction offers an opportunity to compare the individual artistic achievements of the brothers Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564–1638; see lot 3018). While Pieter devoted much of his career to continu- ing and developing the artistic legacy of their father, Jan travelled to Italy between 1589 and 1596, where he absorbed new artistic influences. On his return to Antwerp, he incorporated these into a distinctive style characterised by refinement and elegance – qua- lities that are beautifully expressed in the atmospheric landscape offered here. The painting is archived in the RKD, The Hague, as an authentic artwork by Jan Brueghel the Elder under the number 45025. CHF 350 000/500 000 (€ 380 430/543 480)