The De Ghelcke family, Ypres, by circa 1770;
By descent to Marie de Ghelcke (1773-1853), who married in 1802 Charles Hynderick (1795-1866), also of Ypres;
Their daughter Stephanie Hynderick (1806-1877), who married in 1826 Emmanuel Iweins (1795-1866), also of Ypres;
Their daughter Emma Iweins (1828-1874), who married in 1853 Adolphe Joly (1817-1905), of Brussels;
Their son Leon Joly (1854-1940);
Thence by descent until sold ('The Property of a Belgian Noble Family'), London, Sotheby's, 6 July 2000, lot 45 (as Pieter Brueghel the Younger), where acquired by the present owner.

Brussels, Cinq Siecles d'Art, 1935, no. 177.

R. Van Bastelaer & G. Hulin de Loo, Pierre Breugel l'Ancien, Brussels 1907, pp. 280, 363-4, reproduced facing p. 358;
G. Glück, Bruegels Gemälde, Vienna 1932, p. 99, no. 70;
G. Marlier (ed. J. Folie), Pierre Breughel le Jeune, Brussels 1969, pp. 306-7, reproduced fig. 181;
P. Bianconi, The Complete paintings of Bruegel, (Milan 1967), English ed., London 1969, p. 94, reproduced p. 95 (all the above as Pieter Brueghel the Younger);
K. Ertz, Pieter Brueghel der Jüngere, Lingen 2000, vol. I, pp. 248, 255, no. A191, reproduced (as by a follower of Pieter Brueghel the Younger).

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 oak panel with a single joint and a flat quite old supporting structure behind. The panel has been stable generally, with one old crack, about four inches long, running in from the left edge near the top, and one other near the base of the left edge the same length, slightly more recent. In the top left corner a rectangular retouching might perhaps cover wear from an old label? The restoration is quite recent, with retouching mainly along the joint, occasionally spilling over for instance on to a small damage on the stomach of Carnival. There are a few scratches in the sky, and the upper architecture nearby, with one also across the receding distant street touched out in a narrow line. The drawing is visible characteristically in many places within and around the figures, which are strong and finely intact generally, with unworn, sure, liquid brushwork and crisp detail. The surrounding background differs in technique. 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."

The Battle between Carnival and Lent is taken from a play customarily perfomed by a Carnival brotherhood at Shrovetide: Prince Carnival (the corpulent man) and skinny Lent confront each other at a joust.  Lent's followers bear crosses in ash upon their foreheads, as is still the custom today, and two flagellants are shown among them. Figures so dressed still take part ๊in a Peniten🎃ts' procession in Veurne in Flanders on the last Sunday in July. Lent's meagre fare of herrings clashes feebly with the roast fowl and waffle irons of his opponent Carnival, who is surrounded by recognisable symbols of his gluttony: cards and dice and musical instruments. The setting is consciously theatrical, with the players brought close to the spectator's viewpoint and the simple background equally close behind them reinforcing this effect. The door to the right of the composition is probably intended to be the entrance to a church, thus emphasising and reminding the viewer of the obligations and meanings of the religious festival itself.

The artist of this panel may well have been familiar with Pieter Bruegel the Elder's famous painting of Carnival and Lent of 1559, today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, for his figures are clearly inspired by the corresponding group of jousting mummers in the foreground of the great Vienna painting. As Klaus Demus has shown, the costumes and roles of the particpants are accurately reproduced.¹ This work is not a direct copy of the Vienna painting, however, and differs in many respects, most notably the abandonment of Bruegel's elevated viewpoint. Recent infra-red reflectographs (fig. 1) reveal a fluid and free underdrawing which is in parts at least at variance with the more careful traced outlines typical of the Brueghel workshop.²  It is most likely, however, that the painter would have been familiar with the Brueghel workshop and had access to its designs, either in painted or cartoon form. The number of versions of this composition is nevertheless interestingly and perhaps significantly quite small. Apart from this panel other variants of this design are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and in German and Belgian private collections. Although the present work was formerly accepted as a work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger himself by Glück and Marlier, Ertz now assigns this group to as yet unidentified Flemish followers of Brueghel.³ A 17th-century copy in pen and ink and grey wash of the left hand side of this picture is to be found in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (fig. 2).⁴

 

1. K. Demus, Pieter Brueghel the Elder at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Vienna 1997, pp. 18-19.
2. All technical aspects of the Brueghel workshop are discussed in detail in the exhibition catalogue, Brueghel Enterprises, Maastricht, Bonnefanten Museum, and Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 2001-2002.
3. Ertz, under Literature, vol. I, pp. 254-255, cat. nos. A188-194.
4. K.T. Parker, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. I, Oxford 1938, pp. 14-15, no. 32.