Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Calvary – 1615 (£3-4 million). (Click on image to enlarge it).
An imposing landscape with the Crucifixion by Pieter Brueghel the Younger is part of a remarkable group of Flemish Old Master paintings from the Coppée Collection to be sold at Sotheby’s in London this summer. Assembled by the Belgian industrialist Evence Coppée III (1882-1945) in the 1920’s the collection is comprised almost exclusively of 16th and 17th century works. There is an emphasis on the works of Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1637/8) and the Brueghel family. Of the paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger the sale will feature the landscape with the Crucifixion (£3-4 million), an Outdoor Wedding Dance (£1.-1.5 million) and an evocative Winter Landscape (£1-1.5 million). The selection also encompasses impressive paintings resulting from a collaboration between Jan Brueghel the Younger and artists such as Frans Francken the Younger and Hendrik van Balen the Elder, as well as works from the North Netherlandish School and the School of Northern France.
Passed on by direct descent from Baron Coppée, these works have not appeared on the market for almost a century. They will be auctioned as part of a group of 19 paintings from the Coppée Collection at Sotheby’s Old Master sales on July 9 and 10, 2014. The Calvary is one of only two signed works by Brueghel on the subject of the Crucifixion. It ranks amongst the rarest of his compositions.