The Comtes de Roucy, Compiègne, by whom acquired at an unknown date;
By descent to Marie-France de Roucy (1847-1914), Compiègne;
His second daughter, Simonne de Roucy, who married Ernest-Georges Terver;
Thence by descent to the uncle of the present owner♔, fro♎m whom bought by his father in 1946.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on an undented copper panel. The surface has the scattered minute excrescences characteristic of copper causing tiny brown marks. Some of these have little darkened dots of retouching, particularly in the lapis blue of the Madonna's robe. In her under drapery the deeper red folds have flaked in places, but elsewhere the paint appears relatively secure, apart from a few little lost flakes near the upper right corner and perhaps one or two other tiny flakes. There are a few older filled lost flakes with darkened retouching: in the body of the lower putto at upper left, one in the putto at upper right and occasionally in parts of the outer sky near the edges, where there is a certain amount of more superficial old retouching mainly in the corners and at extreme edges. The left edge is rather rubbed with a line of retouching particularly near the middle, as also at the lower right edge, but there is little other retouching or sign of restoration. The surface is messy generally, with splashes of dirt in the aureole around the Virgin, and appears to have scarcely been touched for a century at least, although the centre may have been partially cleaned. The underlying paint has remained beautifully unscathed generally, with almost no sign of wear, apart from a little thinness in the wings of the putto at upper left and possibly near the edges, now muffled in dirt and accretions. The garland is magnificently intact in every detail, if a little grimy, and the central Madonna and Child is also essentially finely preserved, despite the lost flakes in the red drapery and the many little eruptions of the copper through the paint in the blue robe. The fine detailed brushwork throughout is beautifully preserved. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This meticulously observed copper has remained in the same family collection for at least two hundred years and quite probably longer. Having not appeared on the art market during this time it is preserved in quite exceptional condition and, not being known to compilers of catalogue raisonnés or indeed of any literature on either artist, it remains today unpublished.

Although neither Brueghel nor Van Balen signed or dated this work, it was almost certainly executed in 1615 or after. Up to this date Jan Brueghel I always painted on Pieter Stas coppers but the present copper plate is unmarked. The two artists produced many works of this type together, Brueghel painting the flower garland and Van Balen the figures and putti. However, this work takes an untypical form; where here the sky extends to all four margins and thus provides the basis of the composition, in all other known collaborative 'garlands' this basis is either a landscape or a dark background inset with a religious 'painting within a painting'. Here then, the two artists experiment beyond their usual set parameters. Unlike Van Balen who occasionally put his trust in studio assistants to execute his figures, Brueghel never allowed any student to interfere with his flower paintings, as he attests in a series of letters written in 1611, and the extremly high quality of this garland would suggest that after 1615 he was still a slave to his own exacting standards. 

A copy sold London, Phillips, 27 February 1990, lot 18.

We are grat♓eful to Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the attribution to Jan Brueghel I following first hand inspection.