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TITLE:
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The Return from the Fair
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CATEGORY:
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Paintings
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MATERIALS:
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Panel
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SIZE:
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h: 39 x w: 57.1 cm / h: 15.4 x w: 22.5 in
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REGION:
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Flemish
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STYLE:
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Old Masters
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PRICE*:
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Contact Gallery for Price
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DESCRIPTION:
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Absolute masterpiece in the artist’s production, this panel stands out as one of the most successful and well-balanced compositions that Pieter Brueghel the Younger painted on the theme of popular celebrations. With his customary verve and wit, the artist takes the innovative approach of the other side of the festivities: the last embers of the fires, and the often comical after-effects of such excessive revelry. Brueghel the Younger has thus created an entirely original and individual work without any model from his father’s repertoire.
In contrast to the other Brueghelian fairs, and more in line with the Wedding procession (cf. Catalogue Galerie De Jonckheere, Autumn 2001, no14), the scene takes place in the open country and is in fact made up of two distinct registers which have been superimposed.
In the foreground, Brueghel concentrates on a stretch of road which is elevated like a theatrical tribune, allowing him to depict the gestures, expressions and attitudes of the figures in detail, capturing the essence of the actors in this scene. While this picture has been habitually referred to as coming home from the fair, it is plain to see that it could just as easily be called coming home from the procession. The figure being presented to the gentleman in the left-hand foreground in fact holds a processional banner, an element which should come as no surprise at all in a historical context in which religious festivities and popular celebrations were intrinsically linked and took place at the same time.
Behind this group, a middle-aged couple of considerable girth makes their way with difficulty accompanied by a small child on his hobbyhorse and a younger man carrying a rolled up pennant. At the centre, a group of peasants are managing to muster the energy to launch into a frenzied folk dance to the music of the bagpipes, while, at the right, a woman is desperately trying to revive her husband who is obviously quite tipsy. At the far right, an elderly couple is readying themselves for the difficult trip home: the woman, still sitting down out of urgent necessity.
The landscape unfurling behind this group of figures, in this case a long road lined with barrels, following the course of a river, could also be the subject of variation: winding road, without the river, etc.
Providing the connection with this upper register of the composition, a pair of peasants and a cart shield the furtive gestures of an entwined couple struggling up the hill towards the area in the foreground.
Behind this steep slope appears a village in which the painter manages to clearly indicate the dying fires of the fair: in spite of the reduced scale of the figures, which are more profuse than in other parts of the picture, one can clearly make out the games and other activities in which they are engaged: folk dances, chases, bowling and archery for the less pious among them making up the greater part, while a number of faithful believers remain inside the enclosure of the church…
This version, accepted by Ertz as among one of the 18 versions of this theme by the painter's hand, is notable for its prestigious provenance, its good state of preservation and a particularly homogenous quality of execution. From a compositional point of view, it especially resembles (aside from its dimensions) the panel in the National Gallery in Prague (Inv. N° 0-5422) as well as a different version in the collection of the counts of Navasques in Madrid.
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PROVENANCE:
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Galerie de Heuvel, Bruxelles
Collection Baron Evence III Coppée, Bruxelles
Collection Coppée, Bruxelles
Collection privée
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LITERATURE:
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Georges Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Bruxelles, 1969, pp.394-395, fig. 244, et p. 346, n°1
Leodico-Recherches, La Collection Coppée, Alleur, n°99
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen, 1998/2000, vol. II, p. 916, n° E1299
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EXHIBITION HISTORY:
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Brueghel, une dynastie de peintres, Bruxelles, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1980, n°99
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