Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/30-1569) (after) - Lot 5

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/30-1569) (after) The Temptation of Saint Anthony. 1556. Engraved by P. van der Heyden. 322 x 245. Van Bastelaer 119; New Hollstein (Bruegel) 27.10; Orenstein 37. Very fine proof on thin laid paper. Numerous scattered light freckles. Fine oblique scratches at the foot of the subject, including one across the word "liberabit". Several fine vertical creases, notably at top right (slightly open printing crease). Old glue strip 10 to 20 mm wide at head on verso. Small margins (4 to 6 mm). "The 1556 Temptation of Saint Anthony is the first work to establish Bruegel as a second Bosch. It is the preparatory drawing preserved in Oxford that indicates the authorship of the engraving, which bears only the address of Cock, publisher. (...) One of the main sources of inspiration for the man's head surmounted by a fish was undoubtedly L'Homme-arbre. This figure, perhaps the most successful of all the strange creatures invented by Bosch, appears twice in his own works and countless times in those of his followers. In most cases, the imitations are uninspired, but here the result is a striking image that can - almost - rival its model. Such images were considered entertaining, as their contemporary description indicates. In 1558, Martin le Jeune, a bookseller in Paris, received twelve copies of Sainct Antoine drolerie from Christophe Plantin." (M. Ilsink, in Hieronymus Cock ; la gravure à la Renaissance, collective work, Bibl. royale de Belgique et Fondation Custodia, 2014, p. 256, our subject repr. p. 257).