'Pissing at the Moon'

细节

Pieter Brueghel the Younger (Brussels 1564-1638 Antwerp)
'Pissing at the Moon'
oil on panel, oval
6¾ x 7¾ in. (17 x 19.7 cm.)

来源

with Kunsthandel de Boer, Amsterdam, 1934.
Max J. Friedländer, Berlin and Amsterdam.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 27 October 1993, lot 88.
with Robert Noortman, Maastricht, 1994, from whom acquired by the present owner.

出版

G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel Le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 157, no. 19b.
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen, 2000, pp. 131-2, fig. 99, p. 205, no. E95.

展览

Amsterdam, Kunsthandel P. de Boer, Tentoonstelling van de jongere Breughels, 1934, no. 26.
Vienna, Palais Pallavacini, Die jüngeren Brueghel und ihr Kreis, 1935.
Ghent, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1935.
Brussels, Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Cinq Siècles d'Art, 1935.

注意事项

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. Please note Payments and Collections will be unavailable on Monday 12th July 2010 due to a major update to the Client Accounting IT system. For further details please call +44 (0) 20 7839 9060 or e-mail info@christies.com

荣誉呈献

Clemency Henty

chenty@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2541

拍品专文

This is one of the rarest and most iconic of all the images produced by Pieter Brueghel the Younger to illustrate one of the Flemish proverbs. It derives from the popular saying 'Wat ick verloghe, en geraecke daer niet aen ick pisse altyt tegen de maen' ('Whatever I try to do, I never succeed, I am always pissing at the moon'), thus expressing the ultimate futility of human endeavour. Only one other version exists (Schönborn collection) which forms part of a set of nine circular pictures all based on the proverbs. Both works may derive from a lost prototype by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, of which there is a copy in the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp.