DANCING PEASANTS AT A ST. SEBASTIAN S KERMIS

After it first surfaced in public, Dancing Peasants at a St. Sebastian s Kermis was recognised as a work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, among others by Max Friedländer, the great connoisseur of Flemish painting. However, after it entered the collection of Baroness Bentinck-Thyssen-Bornemisza, the scholarly interest in the painting diminished. When it reappeared many decades later on the art market in a heavily restored condition, its artistic qualities could no longer be appreciated. Only after a recent judicious conservation treatment, a scientific examination of its materials and a new evaluation of its painting technique and style, the painting can be returned to one of the greatest masters of Western art history, Pieter Bruegel the Elder.