Joseph Van Bredael

Josef van Bredael (1688-1739 Paris) A river landscape with boats by a village oil on copper 11 x 14½ in. (28 x 36.9 cm.) Private collection, Belgium. From a family of Flemish painters that included his brother Jan Pieter, Josef van Bredael was primarily a landscape artist. Beginning in 1706, at the age of eighteen, he spent four years copying works by Jan Breughel I, Philips Wouverman and other artists for the Antwerp dealer J. de Witte. In 1735, Van Bredael moved to Paris where he enjoyed the patronage of the Duke of Orléans. The present work displays the keen observation of the natural world and high quality of execution that places Van Bredael among the best imitators of Jan 'Velvet' Breughel, alongside Pieter Gysels, Theobald Michau and Mathys Schoevaerdts.

Joseph van Bredael (Antwerp 1688-1739 Paris) A village with a windmill, figures with horsedrawn carts in the foreground, a canal and a church beyond signed with initials 'I B' (lower left) oil on copper 9½ x 11 7/8 in. (24.1 x 30.2 cm.) K. Ertz, Josef van Bredael, Lingen, 2006, pp. 25-6 and 160-1, no. E53*, fig. 24. Lot Notes The right half of this composition relates to a painting by Jan Breughel I, signed and dated 1603, in a private collection (K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel Der Ältere (1568-1625), Kritischer Katalog der Gemälde, Lingen, 2008, I, pp. 343-9, no. 168, illustrated). Bredael was employed to copy works by Jan Breughel I in 1706 by the merchant J. de Witte. He later enjoyed the patronage of the Duke of Orlans in Paris. This painting also compares closely, both in the general composition and the main figure groups, with another painting by Bredael, of The Entrance of Mayence, in the Landesmuseum, Mainz (Inv.Nr. 715; Ertz, op. cit., 2006, p. 160, no. E52*, fig. 21), which was previously attributed to the Studio, or Circle of Jan Breughel I (K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel Der Ältere (1568-1625), Die Gemälde mit kritischen Oeuvrekatalog, Cologne, 1979, p. 140, fig. 144).

JOSEPH VAN BREDAEL (1688 Antwerpen - 1739 Paris) WINDMÜHLE AM DORFEINGANG Monogrammiert unten rechts: JB Öl auf Kupfer. 14,6 x 19,7 cm. Provenienz Galerie Brod, London (als Jan Brueghel d. J.). - Deutsche Privatsammlung. Literatur Klaus Ertz und Christa Nitze-Ertz: Joseph van Bredael 1688-1739. Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Lingen 2006, S. 28 und S. 148, Nr. E18 (Abb.). Eine nahezu identische Fassung des Bildes befindet sich im Basler Kunstmuseum und eine sehr ähnliche im Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal (Ertz, op. cit., Kat. Nr. E17 und E16). Während das Montreal-Bild, wie unseres, JB monogrammiert ist, ist die Basler Fassung unsigniert. An almost identical version of this painting is in the Kunstmuseum Basel and another very similar one in the Museum of Fine Arts,Montreal (Ertz, opp. cit. cat. No. E17 and E16). The Montreal painting is monogrammed JB like ours, while the Basel version is unsigned.

Joseph van Bredael (born 1688-1739 Paris) A mountainous landscape with a figure reading before a cottage oil on panel 40.3 x 32.6cm (15 7/8 x 12 13/16in). PROVENANCE: Sale, Sotheby's New York, 24 June 2008, lot 272 (as Attributed to Peeter Gysels with a note suggesting an attribution to Jan Brueghel II) The present landscape, which may have originally been larger on the right, compares favourably to two works by Bredael which were previously with Galerie d'Art St. Honoré, Paris (see K. Ertz and C. Nitze Ertz, Josef van Bredael , (Lingen, 2006), cat. no. 130 and 136, illus. pl. 100 and 104).

MEASUREMENTS measurements note 24.8 by 34 cm.; 9 3/4 by 13 3/8 in. DESCRIPTION signed lower left: J.BREDA oil on copper PROVENANCE Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 1983, lot 23, for£9,000. LITERATURE AND REFERENCES E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurset graveurs, vol. II, Paris 1999, p. 770. CATALOGUE NOTE Bredael was born into a large family of painters and was theyoungest son of Joris van Bredael (1661-1706), and the grandson ofthe patriarch of the family Peeter van Bredael (1629-1719). In 1702he was engaged to work alongside his first cousin Jan Frans vanBredael the Elder (1686-1750) in the studio of the painter anddealer Jacob de Witte copying the compositions of Jan Brueghel theElder and Philips Wouwerman. Like many of Bredael's designs thepresent composition has its roots in the work of Jan Brueghel theElder, in this case the Village scene with a windmill in theKnecht Collection, Zurich.1 Although far from being acopy, there is a clear knowledge of Brueghel's composition. Thepicture also clearly relates to the Village scene with awindmill , in the Mittelrhenische Landesmuseum,Mainz,2 of which a signed version by Bredael was soldLondon, Christie's 4 July 1986, lot 48. Another version of thepresent picture by Bredael, with numerous differences, and signedwith initials, was sold in these Rooms, 9 July 1998, lot 19, for£45,000.1. See K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der ältere , Cologne 1979, pp.138-9, cat. no. 93, reproduced plate 143.2. See C. Stukenbrock, Niederländische Gemälde des 16 und 17Jahrhunderts, Mainz 1997, pp. 96-7, reproduced.