Signed lower centre: P. BRVEGHEL. This imposing Adoration of the Magi was identified by Dr Klaus Ertz in 2009 as an original work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. This composition was much in demand and became widely known through several versions. Another version by the artist's own hand, which until 1965 continued to be attributed to Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1527/30–1569) and was then identified as the work of his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger, is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. no. 83-73). Thanks to the signature BRVEGHEL, our painting can be dated to before 1616 and thus earlier than the work in Philadelphia. It was not until 1616 that the artist signed with BREVGHEL, deliberately inverting the E and the V. This later signature appeared after cleaning had taken place on the work in Philadelphia and can be understood as a respectful distancing from his father's oeuvre. From 1616 onwards, the artist sought to expand his father's oeuvre with his own paintings, which, however, closely followed the style of Pieter Brueghel the Elder.