Pieter Brueghel the Elder facts for kids

Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
	The Painter and The Connoisseur, c. 1565 , possibly Bruegel's self-portrait
Born	c. 1525–1530; Breda or nearby, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands; (modern-day Netherlands)
Died	9 September 1569; Brussels, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands; (modern-day Belgium)
Field	Painting, printmaking
Movement	Dutch and Flemish Renaissance
Works	The Hunters in the Snow, The Peasant Wedding, (composition of) Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (c. 1558)

Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c. 1525 – 9 September 1569) was a Dutch or Flemish Renaissance painter and printmaker. He is known for his landscapes and peasant scenes. He is nicknamed 'Peasant Bruegel' to distinguish him from other members of the Brueghel family. But he is the most famous of them and therefore in most of the cases when someone speaks of "Brueghel" he thinks of him. From 1559 he dropped the 'h' from his name and started signing his paintings as Bruegel.

Life

There are records that he was born in Breda, Netherlands, but it is uncertain whether the Dutch town of Breda or the Belgian town of Bree, called Breda in Latin, is meant. He was the son of a peasant living in the village of Breughel.

Style

In Bruegel's later years he painted in a simpler style than the Italian art in his time. The most obvious influence on his art is the older Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch.

Themes

Bruegel specialized in landscapes populated by peasants. He is often credited as being the first Western painter to paint landscapes for their own sake.

He showed the rituals of village life—including agriculture, hunts, meals, festivals, dances, and games. These show the folk culture of 16th century life.

Some of his Paintings

The Tower of Babel, 1563, oil on board
The Peasant Wedding, 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Naval Battle in the Gulf of Naples, 1560, Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome
The Fall of the Rebel Angels, 1562, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
The "Little" Tower of Babel, c. 1563, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
The Procession to Calvary, 1564, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Massacre of the Innocents, c. 1565, versions Royal Collection, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and London art market (2007)
Children's Games, 1560, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The Land of Cockaigne/Land Of Milk And Honey, 1567, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
The Peasant Dance, 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The Beggars, 1568, Louvre, Paris
A detail of Children's Games (1560)

Images for kids

The Blind Leading the Blind, 1568
The Procession to Calvary, 1564, Bregel's 2nd largest painting at 124 cm × 170 cm (49 in × 67 in)
The Peasant Wedding, 1566–69, oil on panel. A late peasant subject, with a more monumental treatment.
Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559, oil on oak wood
Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, 1563, 37.1 × 55.6 cm (14.6 × 21.9 in), owned by Cardinal Granvelle
The Hunters in the Snow, 1565, oil on wood
The Big Fish Eat the Little Fish, Bruegel's drawing for a print, 1556.
Winter Landscape with (Skaters and) a Bird Trap (1565), Bruegel's most copied painting, smaller than many of his landscapes at 38 x 56 cm.
Children's Games (1560), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The Hay Harvest (1565), National Museum (Prague), Lobkowicz family collection in Lobkowicz Palace in Prague Castle
The Harvesters (1565), oil on panel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c. 1558, oil on canvas mounted on wood
Two Monkeys, 1562, oil on panel
A detail of Children's Games, 1560
The Tower of Babel (1563, large version), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, oil on panel
The Land of Cockaigne (1567), Alte Pinakothek, an illustration of the medieval mythical land of plenty called Cockaigne
The Peasant and the Nest Robber (1568), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The Peasant Dance (1568), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, oil on oak panel
The Beggars (The Cripples) (1568), Louvre, Paris, oil on panel
A Pig Has To Go in a Sty, 1557, Bruegel's earliest genre scene
The Fall of the Rebel Angels, (1562), Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Wedding Dance (c.1566), oil on oak panel, The Detroit Institute of Arts
The Census at Bethlehem (1566), oil on wood panel, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium