Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The Peasant Wedding, 1568.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (b. Breda, Netherlands c. 1525 – 1569) was a Renaissance painter and printmaker; considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century. From 1559 he dropped the "h" from his name and started signing his paintings as Bruegel (his sons retained the "h" in the spelling of their names). He was the first in a family (Brueghel) of Flemish painters; father of Jan Brueghel the Elder.

> Founder of a prominent family of artists, Pieter Brueghel (or Bruegel) the Elder is one of the first masters of Flemish painting, a talent often compared to Hieronymus Bosch, though Bosch’s moralizing paranoia is replaced by Bruegel’s ironic social criticism and unconcealed love for country life. [1]

Bruegel is best known for his landscapes and peasant scenes.

Though he was sometimes called "Peasant" Bruegel, due to the common folk with which he populated his genre paintings, Bruegel himself was a sophisticated city-dweller who had traveled to Italy. His seemingly simple scenes of everyday life are full of commentary on the religious controversies of his time. Artist Profile by Shelley Esaak

Bruegel found in nature his greatest inspiration; his mountain landscapes have few parallels in European art. He also painted religious works and mythological portrayals.

## Some works[edit]

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c. 1558.

The Tower of Babel, 1563.

* c. 1558 Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
* 1559 The Fight Between Carnival and Lent
* 1559 Netherlandish Proverbs
* 1560 Children's Games
* c. 1562 Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
* c. 1562 The Triumph of Death
* 1563 The Tower of Babel
* c. 1563 The "Little" Tower of Babel
* 1564 The Adoration of the Kings
* 1564 The Procession to Calvary
* 1565 The Harvesters
* 1565 The Hunters in the Snow
* 1565 Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap
* c. 1565 The painter and the buyer
* 1568 The Peasant Dance
* c. 1568 Peasant wedding

cfr:[2] The Artchive.

* The Procession to Calvary, 1564.

* The Wedding Dance, ca. 1566.

* The Land of Cockaigne, 1567.

* The Peasant Dance, 1568.

## See also[edit]

Storm at Sea - detail.

* Tower of Babel
* Painting Schools

The Harvesters, 1565.

## External links[edit]

* Bruegel, Pieter the Elder The WebMuseum, Paris.
* Pieter Bruegel the Elder Olga's Gallery.
* Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Artchive.

The Fall of the Rebel Angels (detail), 1562.