Jesus and the woman taken in adultery is a biblical episode from John 8:1–8:20 where Jesus encounters an adulteress brought before Pharisees and scribes, which has been depicted by many artists. Such a crime was punishable by death by stoning, however, in the scene, Jesus stoops to write (in Dutch) "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her" on the ground before her feet.[1] A number of the unthrown stones lie on the floor to the left of the woman.[2]
Bruegel depicts the woman as one of the few graceful figures in the scene. She is rendered as an idealised form, atypical of Brugel's usual earthy and homely female figures;[3] though the basic layout of the composition is Netherlandish, "the austere composition and monumental figures are perhaps the most Italianate in all Bruegel's paintings".[4] Apart from an even smaller Three Soldiers in the Frick Collection, Bruegel's only other surviving grisaille painting is The Death of the Virgin at Upton House, Warwickshire, which is also an unusually conventional treatment of a religious subject by Bruegel's standards.[5] However, the earliest documented work by Bruegel was grisaille wings for an altarpiece in 1550/51, as he finished his apprenticeship. This was in Mechelen, where he is documented between September 1550 and October 1551 assisting Peeter Baltens on an altarpiece (now lost), painting the wings.[6]
The painting was not sold by the artist, and seems to be the only one inherited by his son Jan Brueghel the Elder. An engraving was published in 1579 by Paul Perret, who was apparently lent the painting for the purpose, since there are regular pricks along the edges to enable a grid to be made. There are a number of other copies, some attributed to the artist's sons, perhaps made after the engraving, and the painting was lent to Cardinal Federico Borromeo for copying (perhaps the version now in Bergamo).[4] A version attributed to Breuegel's son Pieter Brueghel the Younger of c. 1600 is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.[1]
The work was sold by the family in the 17th century, apparently by Jan Brueghel the Younger, and was in England by the 18th century, being sold at Christie's in 1834 and again in 1952 when it was bought by Count Antoine Seilern, whose collection was bequeathed to the Courtauld in 1978.[4] The work was stolen from the Courtauld Gallery on 2 February 1982.[7] Because of its value and fame, it proved unsaleable on the open market, and did not resurface again until 1992 when it was recovered by British police. During that interim, it likely acted as collateral for the criminals.[8]
↑ Braham, 7. Braham says "the most notable other [grisaille] example"
↑ Wied, Alexander Wied and Van Miegroet, Hans J. "Bruegel." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 2, 2017, subscription required
Pieter Brueghelthe Younger was a Flemish painter known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder's work, as well as original compositions and Bruegelian pastiches. The large output of his studio, which produced for the local and export market, contributed to the international spread of his father's imagery.
Pieter Bruegelthe Elder was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes ; he was a pioneer in presenting both types of subject as large paintings.
The Courtauld Gallery is an art museum in Somerset House, on the Strand in central London. It houses the collection of The Samuel Courtauld Trust and operates as an integral part of The Courtauld Institute of Art.
Upton House is a country house in the civil parish of Ratley and Upton, in the English county of Warwickshire, about 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Banbury, Oxfordshire. It is in the care of the National Trust.
Netherlandish Proverbs is a 1559 oil-on-oak-panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder that depicts a scene in which humans and, to a lesser extent, animals and objects, offer literal illustrations of Dutch-language proverbs and idioms.
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Peeter Baltens, Pieter Balten or Pieter Custodis, was a Flemish Renaissance painter, draughtsman, engraver and publisher. Baltens was also active as an art dealer and poet. He was known for his genre paintings, religious compositions and landscapes.
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Several oil-on-oak-panel versions of The Massacre of the Innocents were painted by 16th-century Netherlandish painters Pieter Bruegel the Elder and his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The work translates the Biblical account of the Massacre of the Innocents into a winter scene in the Netherlands in the prelude to the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, also known as the Eighty Years' War.
Landscape with the Flight into Egypt is a 1563 oil on wooden board painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, showing the biblical Flight into Egypt of Mary and Joseph with the infant Jesus. It measures 37.1 by 55.6 centimetres and is displayed at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
The Death of the Virgin, also known as The Dormition of the Virgin, is a 1564 grisaille painting by Dutch and Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, depicting the death of the Virgin Mary with the Apostles and other figures in attendance. It is now displayed in Upton House and under the care of the National Trust. It is one of the three surviving grisailles by Bruegel.
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