05/11/2001
by Andrew Moore

From the 12^th of October to the 17^th of February the Bonnefanten Museum in the Dutch city of Maastricht, is staging an exhibition investigating the production of copies by Pieter Brueghel the II (Younger, 1564-1637) and his assistants, of the work of his father. Pieter the Younger came from an artistic family (see family tree), with his father Pieter (the Elder, 1525-1569, the subject of a show currently running at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, until the 2^nd of December), his brother Jan, his grandmother Mayken Verhulst van Bessemers and his grandfather Pieter Coecke van Aelst all successful artists in their own right. But whilst the father Pieter (the Elder) and the other son Jan (1568-1625) concentrated on producing original works, Pieter Brueghel the II (Younger) industriously copied his father’s works, as well as making his own compositions, to such an extent that they now regularly appear at auction.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger operated a large-scale workshop with the help of several assistants that poured out works reproduced by the pricking or tracing of a design or "cartoon" onto a manufactured wood panel. Over 1000 copies by the son of his father’s work are now known to be in existence, clearly indicating the popularity for the booming market of copies in the 16^th and 17^th centuries in the Netherlands. Forty paintings are on show at the Bonnefanten Museum, based on four original works, three of which were painted by the father. Originals from which copies were made are known to Brueghel experts as "prime originals". Yet details are sketchy. Pieter Brueghel the Younger was four or five when his father died and hence there was no co-operation between father and son in the production of these copies. The fourth prime original in the Bonnefanten Museum exhibition dates to 1615 and is entitled The collector of tithes (or taxes). This, however, is not thought to be a copy of any of the father’s compositions. To add to the confusion it is unknown if this prime original is by Pieter Brueghel II (the Younger) himself or, alternatively a later copy of a hitherto unknown French prime original.

The collector of tithes is a work which is well known on the Old Master auction market with 91 existent variants and a version coming up for sale at Christie’s, Amsterdam on the 7^th of November 2001. Variants of The collector of tithes are marked only by minimal differences in composition and dimensions, but broadly come in two sizes: the smaller ones measuring circa 55 x 87 cm and the larger ones circa 75 x 123 cm. One might think that such a large number of works of the same image might put buyers off, but this is far from being the case with prices rising steadily over the the last decade. And what of the subject matter? Surely tax collection is hardly the most commercial of artistic subject matters. Paradoxically these works attract their own micro-market of collectors seeking to track down the best example of the same subject, paying up to $ 200,000 (€ 224,460) for this one image.

The larger-sized versions by Pieter Breughel II (Younger) typically hammer around $ 50,000-180,000 (depending on quality and condition). In 1995 at Christie’s, London The collector of tithes, an oil on wood panel, measuring 75 x 125 cm went for $ 172,041 (€ 193,170) against an estimate of $ 154,300-231,450 (€ 173,247-259,910). In December 2000 a version measuring 72.5 x 121 cm, sold for $ 180,719 (€ 202,940) against an estimate of $ 169,947-254,921 (€ 190,850-286,270) at Christie’s, London. Seven months later another The collector of tithes credited to "Pieter Brueghel II (Younger) and Studio" sold at the same location for $ 146,470 (€ 164,390), against an estimate of $ 84,889-113,186 (€ 95,320-127,100). Now right up to date, on the 7^th of November, 2001 Christie’s, Amsterdam will again be offering another example (this time 73 x 103.7 cm) with an estimate of $ 62,340-80,150 (€ 70,000-90,000), catalogued as "Studio of Pieter Brueghel II". Interestingly the smaller variant (circa 55 x 87 cm) of Pieter Brueghel II (the Younger)’s The collector of tithes can have the same estimates as its bigger twin. In 1988 a version measuring 56 x 89 cm was sold for $ 110,000 (€ 123,520) against an estimate of $ 70,000-90,000 (€ 78,610-101,070) at Sotheby’s, New York. Over a decade later in 1999 at Christie’s, New York a version with the same dimensions and an estimate of $ 350,000-450,000 (€ 393,030-505,330) was on sale. With this failing to sell, it is clear that these works have a ceiling of $ 200,000 (€ 224,590) and no more, for the moment.

To add to the confusion there are another seven Flemish artists who lived from the 16^th to the 17^th centuries who share the same surname, Brueghel. One of them was the son of Pieter the II and like-father-like-son, recopied copies. Named Pieter Brueghel the III (1589-1634), there have been eight examples of The collector of tithes at auction since 1989 attributed to this sibling and sales analysis points once again to a steady rise in prices. In 1989 Sotheby’s, New York offered Pieter Brueghel the III’s The collector of tithes, an oil on panel measuring 71 x 105 cm for $ 33,000 (€ 37,060), selling within estimate. In 1998 at Sotheby’s, London a marginally bigger example (74.9 x 122.1 cm) again on wood panel sold for $ 158,386 (€ 177,850) against an estimate of $ 50,016-83,361 (€ 56,160-93,600). These are not beautiful paintings by any stretch of the imagination and like the financial subject of The collector of tithes, are in effect commercial units that are currently hot on the market.