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Alpine landscape

Maker

(artist)
active late 16th or early 17th century (Life dates)

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1525-1569

Title

Alpine landscape

Date of Production

(circa?) 1575 - 1625

Medium

pen and brown ink on laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 24.8 cm
Width: 43 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.315

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords





Label Text

The vertiginous slopes and minute church steeple on the horizon underscore the perils of the journey across the Alps. This drawing is from a group of twenty mountain scenes once considered testimony of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s experience in the Alps on his way to Italy. Long considered core works by the master, they were reattributed in 1996. Watermarks on the paper combined with stylistic analysis show that these works date from at least fifteen years after Bruegel’s death.

Provenance

Mr T.P. Huggill (d. 1957), 1920s?; by descent to his widow, Mrs G.M.W. Huggill; her sale, Sotheby's (London), 27 November 1957, lot 37 (as Bruegel the Elder); purchased there by Colnaghi (London) on behalf of Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978) (£7,350); Princes Gate Bequest 1952 A 1957 newspaper article in the file states that Mrs Huggill found this sheet in a parcel of 80 drawings that her husband had owned for "more than thirty years".

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Bruegel / Not Bruegel, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 16/01/2016-17/04/2016

Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983

Literature

Mielke, Hans, Pieter Bruegel: die Zeichnungen, Turnhout 1996
no. A 4 on p. 76
as Savery; in file

Mielke, Hans, 'Noch einmal zum Problem von Pieter Bruegels Landschaftszeichnungen' in 'Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst', 1991 - pp. 137-47
pp. 140-41
fig. 5 on p. 141

Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
no. 18 on p. 18
ill. on p. 30
in file ...More

Oberhuber, Konrad, 'Bruegel's early landscape drawings' in 'Master Drawings', 1981 - pp. 146-56; XIX
p. 149
pl. 22
in file for PG.9

'Des dessins de Pierre Bruegel l'Ancien' in 'Bruegel: une dynastie de peintres', Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1980
p. 65
in file for PG.9

Seilern, Count Antoine, Flemish paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London SW7. Addenda, London 1969; IV
no. 315
pl. XXVIII
in file

Münz, Ludwig, Bruegel: the drawings, London 1961
App.2 on p. 240
App.2
Addenda by Luke Herrmann - drawings attributed to Bruegel, first published since Münz's death

de Tolnay, Charles, 'Remarques sur quelques dessins de Bruegel l'ancien et sur un dessin de Bosch récemment réapparus' in 'Bulletin Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique', Sept. 1960 - pp. 3-28; 1/2
pp. 9ff
ill.

Grossmann, F., Encyclopedia of World Art, New York, Toronto and London 1960
p. 638

Grossmann, F., 'New Light on Bruegel. I: Documents and Additions to the "Oeuvre"; Problems of Form' in 'Burlington Magazine', 1959 - pp. 338, 341-47; 101, 678
p. 345

'"Leakage" of art sale details' in 'The Manchester Guardian', 10 Dec. 1957
p. 5
in file

Sotheby's, London, 27 November 1957, Old master drawings and paintings
lot 37 [or 37a?]
ill.
as the property of Mrs G.M.W. Huggill ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, brown ink, false signature and date?: "p. bruegel 1547". Verso (backing sheet): upper centre edge, brown ink, last two letters superscript, 19th-century hand?: “Devonre”; upper right edge, graphite: “No 1”; centre, brown ink: “View on the Rhine Hemskirk”; centre, brown ink: “M. No. 21” [not on Lugt].

Collector's mark: none.

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