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拍品專文
Described by Klaus Ertz as of 'Hervorragende Qualität' (‘excellent quality’; op. cit.), this is one of the finest treatments of a composition that is thought to have been of the artist’s own invention, rather than derived – like so many of his other subjects – directly from the work of his father, Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Brueghel’s merry scene focuses on a crowd of revellers leaving a village kermesse – the anniversary of the founding of the church – still in the throes of celebration as the festivities continue in the distance. While the disorderly procession spills into the foreground, reeling, dancing and embracing in various states of intoxication, the crowds beyond congregate outside the church following Mass, while others dance and cavort. The subject proved to be one of Brueghel’s most popular, as attested to by three variants of the composition produced by Brueghel, totalling eighteen known autograph versions of the types (Ertz, op. cit., nos. E1296-E1313).
The Return from the Kermesse was acquired in the early twentieth century by one of the greatest collectors of Pieter Brueghel the Younger – Baron Evence III Coppée. Having inherited a coal production business founded by his grandfather, Evence III built up a vast industrial empire with interests in mining, banking, shipping, agriculture and chemicals. The business was set on such a successful course that he began to indulge his passion for Flemish art, building up a major collection between the wars that he housed in the Coppée mansion on the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt in Brussels. Between 1925 and 1935, he acquired nine pictures by Pieter Brueghel the Younger across a wide range of subjects. These were all bought with admirable discernment and the Coppée name became synonymous with the very best taste in Brueghel collecting, which was to inspire future generations of collectors in Belgium and beyond. Several of the other Coppée Brueghels have been dispersed through sales in recent years, including: the Birdtrap (Sotheby’s, London, 9 July 2014, lot 10, £3,890,000), the Preaching of the Baptist (these Rooms, 7 July 2009, lot 8, £1,497,000), the Wedding Dance (Sotheby’s, London, 9 July 2014, lot 12, £1,538,500) and La Rixe (these Rooms, 2 December 2014, lot 10, £842,500).
Brueghel’s merry scene focuses on a crowd of revellers leaving a village kermesse – the anniversary of the founding of the church – still in the throes of celebration as the festivities continue in the distance. While the disorderly procession spills into the foreground, reeling, dancing and embracing in various states of intoxication, the crowds beyond congregate outside the church following Mass, while others dance and cavort. The subject proved to be one of Brueghel’s most popular, as attested to by three variants of the composition produced by Brueghel, totalling eighteen known autograph versions of the types (Ertz, op. cit., nos. E1296-E1313).
The Return from the Kermesse was acquired in the early twentieth century by one of the greatest collectors of Pieter Brueghel the Younger – Baron Evence III Coppée. Having inherited a coal production business founded by his grandfather, Evence III built up a vast industrial empire with interests in mining, banking, shipping, agriculture and chemicals. The business was set on such a successful course that he began to indulge his passion for Flemish art, building up a major collection between the wars that he housed in the Coppée mansion on the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt in Brussels. Between 1925 and 1935, he acquired nine pictures by Pieter Brueghel the Younger across a wide range of subjects. These were all bought with admirable discernment and the Coppée name became synonymous with the very best taste in Brueghel collecting, which was to inspire future generations of collectors in Belgium and beyond. Several of the other Coppée Brueghels have been dispersed through sales in recent years, including: the Birdtrap (Sotheby’s, London, 9 July 2014, lot 10, £3,890,000), the Preaching of the Baptist (these Rooms, 7 July 2009, lot 8, £1,497,000), the Wedding Dance (Sotheby’s, London, 9 July 2014, lot 12, £1,538,500) and La Rixe (these Rooms, 2 December 2014, lot 10, £842,500).