Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/27–1569)
Trois Crayons Magazine, October 2026
Pieter Bruegel’s The Painter and the Connoisseur is arguably one of the most famous Netherlandish drawings. It depicts a meeting between a ‘modern Apelles’ and a ‘bespectacled pedant’, represented in the satirical vein so beloved in Bruegel’s art. The image was popular and at least four early copies are known. But which of these two drawings is the original and which is the copy?
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The original is the upper image.
Upper (left) Image: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/27–1569), The Painter and the Connoisseur, c. 1566, Albertina, Vienna, inv. 7500
Lower (right) Image: Netherlandish School, 16th century, The Painter and the Connoisseur, after Pieter Bruegel, Christie’s, New York, 1 February 2024, lot 70Drawn around 1566, towards the end of Bruegel’s career, The Painter and the Connoisseur swiftly became a popular image and at least four early copies are known. The original is now held at the Albertina in Vienna, while the copy illustrated here was offered at Christie’s in 2024. The copy is an extremely faithful reproduction, showing little personal style. It is inscribed with the name of the Flemish artist Jacob Savery (1565/67–1603), to whom the drawing has been attributed. Savery was a landscapist who produced small landscape drawings in the style of Bruegel, some of which have been identified as forgeries on account of their false Bruegel signatures.
A further copy in the Stichting P. and N. de Boer in Amsterdam is believed to be by Jacob Hoefnagel (1575–1630). Additional copies are at the British Museum in London, and in a private collection.
