The Census at Bethlehem

Artwork Description

Category

paintings

Dimensions

122.6 × 172.1 cm (48.25 × 67.75 in)

Materials

oil on oak panel

Provenance

Probably, Jean de Clercq, called L’Oude (1694-1764), Magistrate of Ostend;

Thence by descent in the family (according to the 1980 auction catalogue);

Anonymous sale, Paris, Drouot (Couturier-Nicolas) 29 May 1980, lot 31;

With Galerie Robert Finck, Paris, by 1981;

From whom acquired in 1988.

Literature

Connoisseur, May 1980;

Weltkunst, 1 December 1981;

K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere , Lingen 2000, vol. I, p.295, no. E216, reproduced p. 296;

C. Currie, "Demystifying the Process: Pieter Bruegel the Younger’s "The Census at Bethlehem", A Technical Study", in Brueghel Enterprises, exh. cat. Maastricht 2001, pp. 84 n 37, 123 148, no. 13, reproduced (with updated research in the 2012 publication below);

C. Currie & D. Allart, "Case Study 2: Copies of the "Census at Bethlehem" after Pieter Bruegel the Elder", in The Brueg[H]el Phenomenon: Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Younger with a Special Focus on Technique and Copying Practice , 3 vols, Brussels 2012, vol. 2, p. 382, 384, 428, 432, 438, 442 n1, reproduced fig. 209, and reproduced in detail fig. 218f.