Lot 1033 D α

This painting is the result of a cooperation between the Antwerp painters Josse de Momper the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Younger. The former painted the landscape, and the latter the figures. Depicted is a bay protected by a peninsula on which a fort has been built. Fishermen have rolled up their sails, laid their nets out to dry and moored their boats, and further small figures of fishermen can be seen selling their latest catch on a harbour in the foreground. The composition opens up towards the sea, and to the right a small strip of coast with a distant town is visible in the background.
The picture belongs to the small group of Josse de Momper's coastal landscapes, which Dr. Klaus Ertz has summarised under the title "Befestigungsanlagen" (fortifications) in his monograph on the artist. He plans to include and illustrate this painting as a work by the artist and Jan Brueghel the Younger in the additional volume of his catalogue raisonné, dated circa 1630.