Pieter Brueghel the Elder

Key facts

Lived

1525–1569, Duchy of Brabant

Movement

• Northern Renaissance

Works held in

28 museums

Plan your visit to see Pieter Brueghel the Elder →

• Pieter bruegel the elder?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder is known for paintings such as *Hunters in the Snow*, *The Peasant Dance*, and *The Harvesters*. His works also include *The Fall of Icarus*, *Children's Games*, *The Fall of the Rebel Angels*, *Two Monkeys*, *The Tower of Babel*, *The Adoration of the Kings*, *The Land of Cockaigne*, *The Wedding Banquet*, and *The Parable of the Blind*.
• What is Pieter Brueghel the Elder's most famous work?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder produced many admired paintings and prints. It is difficult to single out one work as his most famous. However, several paintings are particularly well known. *The Netherlandish Proverbs* (1559) is celebrated for its depiction of over one hundred literal illustrations of Dutch proverbs. *The Tower of Babel* (1563) is famous for its detailed depiction of the biblical tower. Brueghel made two painted versions; the more famous is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Brueghel's series of paintings depicting the seasons are also very popular. These include *Hunters in the Snow* (1565), also known as *The Return of the Hunters*, and *The Harvesters* (1565). Both are part of a series of six works, of which five survive, commissioned by Nicolaes Jongelinck, a wealthy Antwerp art collector. These paintings offer detailed scenes of peasant life and the changing seasons. They are appreciated for their close observation and representation of 16th-century rural life.
• What style or movement did Pieter Brueghel the Elder belong to?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder (born circa 1525, died 1569) was a Northern Renaissance painter and printmaker. His style synthesised influences. He is considered distinct from his contemporaries due to his artistic vocabulary. Brueghel's art combined old and new elements. His work was new in that it rejected the Romanism of the period. He conceived of individuals as types, and he nearly eliminated religious elements from his genre paintings. He unified genre and the depiction of the natural world. His style also incorporated older elements, such as the patterned construction associated with Mannerism. Brueghel's early work shows the influence of Hieronymus Bosch. Between 1555 and 1563, Brueghel designed more than 40 engravings, taking advantage of the popularity of Bosch’s style. Like Bosch, Brueghel created scenes of peasant life with a moralising intent. However, Brueghel's works lacked the fantasy elements of Bosch, and instead emphasised the vulgar through witty compositions.
• What techniques or materials did Pieter Brueghel the Elder use?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder employed painting materials that were entirely in keeping with established standards of the day. His painting method has been characterised as deliberately slow, in order to achieve a high degree of detail. He was known to take many months to finish some commissions. It is possible that he worked on several paintings at once, allowing the works to dry at various stages and then returning to them, in order to maintain a crisp appearance by avoiding the risk of applying paint on top of a layer that was still wet. When painting a vista, Brueghel would first lay down solid areas of colour to differentiate space, such as light green in the foreground and blue hues for the far distance, as well as for the expanses of sky. In most background areas, the application of colour occurred in loosely applied fine dabs, in no way covering the light-coloured preparation. The surfaces are thereby made to visually vibrate.
• What was Pieter Brueghel the Elder known for?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder (born between 1520 and 1530; died 1569) was a painter and printmaker active in the Low Countries. He is known for his sweeping compositions, use of a high vantage point, and his sympathetic, honest depictions of peasant life. He combined these elements with his own style of story-telling. Brueghel also painted religious and historical scenes, setting them in his own time. Around 1551, Brueghel became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. Between 1551 and 1553, he travelled through France, Switzerland, and Italy. During his travels, he made drawings of the Alps and learned to execute miniature paintings. From 1555 to 1563, Brueghel designed engravings for the Print Shop of the Four Winds. In 1563, he moved to Brussels and began working primarily as a painter. In 1565, he was commissioned to create a series of paintings called The Months.
• When did Pieter Brueghel the Elder live and work?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder was active during the High Renaissance in the Low Countries. He was born circa 1525-1530, but the exact date and location of his birth are unknown. It is believed he was born in or near Breda, North Brabant, now in the Netherlands. Brueghel's earliest known works date to the 1550s. He was apprenticed to Pieter Coecke van Aelst in Antwerp. He married van Aelst's daughter, Mayken, in 1563. That same year, Brueghel moved from Antwerp to Brussels. He lived and worked there until his death in 1569. Brueghel's career was relatively short, spanning only about two decades. Despite this, he produced a substantial body of work. His paintings and prints often depict peasant life, religious scenes, and allegories. His sons, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder, also became painters.
• Where can I see Pieter Brueghel the Elder's work?+

  Pieter Bruegel the Elder was born circa 1525-1530, possibly in Breugel or Antwerp. He died in Brussels in 1569. His final resting place is Notre-Dame de la Chapelle / Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ter-Kapellekerk. Bruegel's paintings are held in many major European collections. The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria, owns several important works. These include two versions of *The Tower of Babel*, *The Battle Between Carnival and Lent*, *The Peasant Wedding*, and *The Peasant Dance*. The museum has also displayed *Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap*, *The Massacre of the Innocents*, *The Magpie on the Gallows*, *The Birdnester*, and the drawing *The Beekeepers*. The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, holds *Portrait of Pieter Bruegel the Elder*, an engraving by Johannes Wierix from 1572.
• Where was Pieter Brueghel the Elder from?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder's origins are somewhat debated. Karel van Mander, in his early biography *Het Schilder-Boeck* (1604), stated that Brueghel was born in the village of Brueghel, near Breda, in the Netherlands. This account has been accepted by some scholars. However, later research suggests a different location. It is now thought that Brueghel was likely born in or near Breda, but not specifically in a village named Brueghel. No such village existed. Some historians propose that he may have been born in Breda itself, or in a nearby village. Regardless of the precise location, it is generally agreed that Pieter Brueghel the Elder was born in the Duchy of Brabant, a region corresponding to the modern-day southern Netherlands and northern Belgium. Breda was a significant city within this region. The year of his birth is estimated to be around 1525. His two sons, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder, were both born in Brussels.
• Who did Pieter Brueghel the Elder influence?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder's paintings influenced a number of later artists. Roelandt Savery, who spent some years in Prague, responded to Brueghel's peasant paintings with his Peasant Meal (1608). Savery assimilated many of Brueghel's motifs; however, Savery altered the focus, reverting to a disapproval of coarse behaviour. Where Brueghel's villagers have ambiguous conduct, Savery's peasants are objects of derision. Lucas van Valckenborch was another painter who responded to Brueghel's pictures after the artist's death. Valckenborch, who became court painter to Maximilian II of Habsburg in 1579, devoted most of his efforts to painting, and he responded to Brueghel's prototypes. His paintings focus on interactions between villagers and visitors from the court. In a painting in Saint Petersburg, Valckenborch seems to have represented Brueghel's friend, Abraham Ortelius, among the group.
• Who influenced Pieter Brueghel the Elder?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder (born circa 1528, died 1569) trained in Antwerp under Pieter Coecke van Aelst, painter to Charles V. Brueghel's artistic style and approach owe a debt to Hieronymus Bosch; it was Bosch's pupil who encouraged Brueghel to study with Coecke van Aelst. Although Brueghel became Coecke van Aelst's apprentice, he resisted the Italianate style of his instructor. Instead, Brueghel's technique and artistic ideas can be traced to Bosch. Brueghel travelled to Italy, arriving in Rome in 1553; however, he was little affected by Italian art. He returned to Flanders by 1554. Brueghel married Coecke van Aelst's daughter in 1563, and moved to Brussels, where he lived until his death. His most significant artistic growth occurred during his final six years. He produced potent and original works, especially in his later period, when he focused on the life around him. The humour and satire of Bosch appear again in Brueghel's work.
• Who was Pieter Brueghel the Elder?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder (circa 1525-1569) was a painter and engraver of the Dutch Renaissance. The exact year and location of his birth are not known; it was likely between 1525 and 1530, possibly in Breda, North Brabant. He was the first in a line of Flemish painters from the Brueghel family. His sons Pieter Brueghel the Younger (nicknamed ‘Hell Brueghel’) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (nicknamed ‘Velvet Brueghel’) were also painters. Around 1545, Brueghel became an apprentice of Pieter Coecke van Aelst in Antwerp. By 1551, he was registered as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. He travelled to Italy in 1552, passing through Lyon and the Swiss Alps. While in Rome, he may have worked with the miniaturist Ginlio Clovio. Brueghel married Mayken Coecke in 1563 and relocated to Brussels. He was buried in the Church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Chapelle in Brussels.
• What art movement was Pieter Brueghel the Elder part of?+

  Pieter Brueghel the Elder was associated with the Northern Renaissance movement.