Extremely little is known about the life and work of Pieter Brueghel III. Pieter III, son of Pieter Brueghel II and grandson of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, was baptized in Antwerp on 6 July 1589. He trained under his father and was inscribed under the name ‘Pieter Brueghel de jonge’ in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke as ‘wijnmeester’ (son of a master) in 1608. It is believed he would have chiefly assisted his father in repeating Pieter the Elder's compositions as well as copying the Younger’s own designs. Both Georges Marlier and Jacqueline Folie attempted to identify Pieter III’s hand in a number of works, but these attributions have failed to gain widespread support in recent decades (see, for example, G. Marlier, Pierre Brueghel le Jeune, Brussels, 1969, p. 439, fig. 285).

The emergence of this painting presents an opportunity to reassess Pieter III’s activity as a painter and serves as a touchstone on which future attributions may be based. Signed in all caps at lower right, the painting exhibits striking similarities with a panel depicting the Battle of Carnival and Lent given to Pieter III (sold Christie’s, Paris, 23 June 2010, lot 26 for €193,000). Both paintings display a clear preference for figures – many seen in a sort of suspended motion – dressed in bright, slightly acidic colors and with characteristic aquiline noses beneath a silvery sky.

The present view closely resembles a painting of the same subject by Pieter III’s uncle, Jan Brueghel I, datable to circa 1605 (Staatliches Museum, Schwerin; see K. Ertz and C. Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere (1568-1625): Die Gemälde, I, Lingen, 2008, pp. 278-279, no. 127, illustrated). In light of the similarities between the two works, it is tempting to suggest that Jan’s painting served as the model on which his nephew based his own composition only a few years later.