Galerie Dreyfus
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PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER (BRUSSELS 1578 – ANTWERP 1638)
T…
See original version (French)
9
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PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER (BRUSSELS 1578 – ANTWERP 1638)
T…
See original version (French)
Estimate €200,000 - €250,000
Voluntary lot
Description
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER
(BRUSSELS 1578 – ANTWERP 1638)
The Payment of the Tithe
Between 1615 and 1622
Oil on panel
70 x 104 cm.
At the back of an office cluttered with bundles of papers – piled high, hanging from the ceiling,
and packed into hemp sacks – sits the master of the house. Settled in his armchair,
wearing the cap of a man of the law, this lawyer examines, one by one, the documents brought to him
by the peasants who wait their turn, respectfully, hats in hand, in the centre of
the room. Before him, an hourglass measures the time he will allow each claimant. Two
clerks assist him: one, at the back, who records the proceedings, and in the foreground, the cashier
who collects the fees paid by the peasants in kind: bunches of grapes, poultry,
eggs, which a woman retrieves from the bottom of her basket and which are thus passed from hand to hand. The scene
displays all the hallmarks of satire, both in the caricatured features of the peasants
and in the lawyer’s demeanour, which highlights the social divide between the educated classes and the peasants. This
painting, of which several dozen copies are known to exist worldwide—one of which is held
at the Louvre—has been given various titles: The Office of a Tax Collector, The
Payment of the Tithe or Rent Day. It is more likely to depict the office of a
village lawyer, as stated in the inventory of a collection dating from 1627, which describes
a panel painting by Brueghel the Younger as depicting ‘a French lawyer’.
Many of the documents, including the calendar on the right-hand wall, are, in fact, written in
French, the language used at that time for legal documents in the Netherlands. Unusually, however, the
source of this composition is not the work of the artist’s father, Pieter Brueghel
the Elder (1525–1569), nor of any of his contemporaries such as Marten van Cleve (1527–
81) or Peeter Baltens (1527–84), but appears to be an invention of Pieter Brueghel the Younger
himself.
This composition by Pieter Brueghel the Younger has proved to be one of his most popular.
Known in numerous versions, of which around twenty-five are considered to be autograph
works, the earliest version dates from 1615. Brueghel and his workshop produced the
composition in two sizes: the smaller format measures approximately 55 x 87 cm. and the larger format,
such as this example, measures approximately 76 x 123 cm. The overall design was probably
transferred from a tracing and therefore remains largely the same across the various
versions; the caricatured faces remain consistent and the overall scene demonstrates Brueghel’s unique
talent for narrative detail. The existing versions of the composition can be broadly divided
into two main groups: those with woven straw mats on the
back wall of the office, with dated versions ranging from 1615 to 1617, and others with a
dark cloth, as here, whose dates range from 1618 to 1626. An engraving based on the
composition, for example, was published in 1618 by Paulus Fürst for a pamphlet denouncing
corruption amongst lawyers, which undoubtedly provides an indication of the enduring popularity of the
composition.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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