An extensive Italianate coastal landscape with the Tempel of Sybil, fishmongers with their catch in the foreground and boats at a quay beyond

After taking over his father's workshop in 1625, Jan Brueghel the Younger continued to work closely in the distinctive manner of Jan the Elder to satisfy the high demand of paintings in his father's style. The present landscape can be dated to the 1630s. The execution is still related to the detailed style of Jan the Elder and the conception of landscape reflects the works by Joos de Momper. On the other hand, Jan the Younger has already developed a less meticulous style with more pictorial and lavish brushstroke than in his early landscapes of the 1620s.

The motif of the temple of the Sybil, which is shown in the distance, derives from compositions by Jan the Elder. The model could have been a drawing, executed by the elder in Italy in 1593 (F. Lugt, Foundation Custodia, Paris), or a drawing by Paul Bril, which is suggested to have been in Jan the Elder's possession. The latter shows not only the temple but also the arched basement of the building, which Jan the Younger carefully depicts in the present work (see: Louisa Wood Ruby, 'Jan Brueghel d.Ä. als Zeichner', in: Brueghel, Gemälde von Jan Brueghel d.Ä., Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung, Munich, exh. cat., 2013, p. 39, ills. 27 and 28).

Sold with a certificate by Klaus Ertz, dating the work to the third quarter of the 17th Century.