Pieter Bruegel the Elder: 9 works

'The peasant': this is the name that has become associated with Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the greatest genius of sixteenth-century Netherlandish art.'

'Little is known of Pieter Brueghel the Younger's life. He was born in Brussels as the eldest son of the famous Pieter Brueghel the Elder.'

'Although the Italianate style dominated in his times, Bruegel the Elder preferred a somewhat simpler form. He was the pioneer of Netherlandish genre painting because his main focus lay on village life, as seen, for instance, in 'Netherlandish Proverbs' (1559).'

'This bustling scene by renowned Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder shows a typical Netherlandish kermis. Originally a feast day for a patron saint, the kermis became a combination carnival, festival, fair, and religious observance, and it was one of Bruegel's favorite subjects.'

'Bruegel painted this picture when he was still living in Antwerp and supplying drawings to the engraver Hieronymus Cock.'

'Bruegel's monumental composition had several forerunners in Netherlandish painting, but his work became the most famous classic among the Tower of Babel depictions and was frequently copied in many different variations.'

'Bruegel's 'Massacre of the Innocents' was a popular image, repeated numerous times mainly by the artist and by his son, Pieter Bruegel the Younger.'

'From 1563, the year he moved to Brussels, until his death in 1569, Bruegel concentrated almost exclusively on painting.'

'The younger son of the great Pieter Bruegel, Jan Brueghel is one of the key figures of Flemish landscape painting around 1600, while his father was one of the leading lights of his and following generations for over a century.'