In the manner of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Netherlandish, c. 1525–1569
City Marathon, 2026
Oil on oak panel
116 × 174 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.1.5
A river of runners pours across the stone bridge into town, while the real river carries boatloads of spectators underneath. Tables of water cups line the right-hand side. One runner at the bottom has stopped, bent double, and nobody minds. Drones hang over the cathedral where Bruegel would have put crows. He painted whole villages doing one thing at once. This is the same village, in trainers.
The brief
A marathon route crossing a bridge seen from a high building, a river of thousands of small runners, spectators with signs, a water station, a runner walking, drones overhead. Sixteenth-century Flemish oil painting on panel, a high vantage point looking down over a sprawling crowded scene, dozens of small figures each absorbed in their own activity, earthy greens, ochres and brick reds against a pale winter or summer sky, meticulous detail across the whole picture with no single hero, gentle satire and warmth, matte surface with fine craquelure. Museum photograph of the panel painting, even diffuse gallery lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
