Lot 1570 Dα

This fine, densely populated and well preserved pair of works was purchased in 1973 with the attribution to Joseph van Bredael (cf. Christie's catalogue). However, this artist's oeuvre was comprehensively presented in a monograph by Klaus Ertz, in which he did not include the present works. Instead, Ertz's attribution of the pieces to Bredael's colleague Karel Beschey seems far more convincing, as demonstrated by the comparison of these works to two signed pendants sold by Lempertz in 2010 (auction 969, 29.11.2010, lot 1096). Alongside Bredael, Pieter Gijsels and A. F. Bouedwyns, Beschey was among the artists who continued Jan Brueghel I's style into the second half of the 17th century and early 18th century, blending his cheerful, blue-green toned landscapes and bucolic motifs into ever varying compositions.