JOOS DE MOMPER the Younger and JAN BRUEGHEL the... Lot 3026

JOOS DE MOMPER the Younger and JAN BRUEGHEL the Younger (1564 Antwerp 1635) (1601 Antwerp 1678) Winter cityscape by an icy river. Oil on wood. 74 × 106 cm. Expert opinion: Dr. Klaus Ertz, 8.7.2022. Provenance: European Collection. The articulation of this multi-layered winter view speaks to the exceptionally harmonious collaboration between the artist Joos de Momper, who executed the landscape, and Jan Brueghel the Younger, who contributed the figures. Although two masters worked on this work, the painting appears as a coordinated whole. As in a successful stage set, the tree on the left and the village on the right create the frame within the painting on which the puppet theater can take place. And contrary to the expectations of a cool winter scene, the painter friends create here a thoroughly lively scene with everyday scenes, which in their colorful hustle and bustle set a contrasting point to the quiet background. The birds in the upper half of the picture also appear particularly beautiful, flying through the air in groups of two and three like the people in the village. This movement is also emphasized by the windmill in the village and the two carriages in the foreground, which ultimately present the viewer with a dynamic scene that gives the bone-chilling cold of the landscape its warmth. Dr. Klaus Ertz has examined the painting in the original and dates it towards the end of the 1620s, around 1630. As he notes, although created by two painters, the painting appears "as if from one cast" and is good evidence of the collaboration of the painter friends. An earlier version, painted around 1615-20, is in the Staatliche Museen Kassel, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe (inv. no. GK 51, see Klaus Ertz: Joos de Momper der Jüngere, Freren 1986, p. 575, cat. no. 390). This object marked with * (asterisk) is fully subject to VAT, i.e. for these objects VAT will be charged on the hammer price plus buyer's premium. Buyers who present a legally stamped export declaration will be refunded the VAT.