Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a prominent 16th-century Flemish painter, is recognized for his detailed and satirical depictions of everyday life, landscapes, and secular themes, challenging the traditional styles of his time. His works reflect the socio-political climate of the Netherlands, often incorporating proverbs and contemporary settings to comment on human folly and the Spanish rule. The document discusses Bruegel's evolution as an artist, including his shift towards larger portraits and a more humanistic perspective in his later works.

1. First created. Feb 2010. London. Jerry Daperro. Version 4.0. 26 Feb 2022.
Pieter Bruegel the
Elder
Epic of Every day Life
View of Naples c1558

2. The greatest Flemish artist of
16C. Yet in his own time he was
considered as an old fashion
“peasant painter”.
c1525 - 1569
Bruegel the Elder (c1525-1569)
He gives us a gleam of life in the
Low Country 400 years ago. His
paintings are full of details &
messages. Pieter Bruegel the
Elder was the most important
satirist in the Netherlands after
Bosch and one of the greatest
landscape painters.

3. Son. Pieter II
Son. Jan I
Grandson. Jan II
Bruegel Dynasty (c1525-1678) The Bruegel Dynasty spanned over a
century. It consolidated the secular
approach to painting in Northern Europe.

4. Strife of Lent c1550-60

5. Fall of Icarus c1555
Icarus fell
into the
sea.

6. Gulf of Naples 1558-62
Bruegel was in Italy in 1551-1553 and he also visited Naples.

7. Flemish Proverbs 1559

8. He can barely reach from one load to the
other. (unable to live within his means.)
To run his head again a stone wall. (To
pursue the impossible recklessly.)
The hen-feeder . (To count to
chicken before they are hatched.)
One winds on the distaff what the other
spins (to spread malicious gossip).
The pull to get the longest end.
(tug-of-war to seek an advantage.)
Spilt porridge (The
damage is done)
Over a hundred proverbs have been colourfully identified, describing
the absurdity of human behaviour and their sinfulness.
Like his paintings ‘The Children’s Games’ and ‘The Triumph of
Death’, it is a narrative bird eyes views of the world populated with
tiny figures.
Flemish Proverbs (Detail) 1559

9. Flight into Egypt 1561

10. Fall of Rebel Angels 1562

11. Adoration of the Kings in the Snow 1563-67

12. Adoration of the Kings in the Snow 1563-67
Details of previous painting.

13. Early Spring - Brown
Spring - Presumably lost
Early Summer - Green
High Summer - Yellow Autumn - Gold Ochre Winter - White
In Bruegel‘s time, a year had six seasons, according to some customs. Surprisingly,
none of the landscape in these paintings depict his native land, the ‘Low Countries’,
which is flat without mountains.
Seasons of the year. 1565

14. Early Spring 1565

15. The ‘Seasons of the Year’ was Bruegel
largest commission.
Cutting wood to repair homes, in
contrast to the dangerous stormy sea.
Early Spring (Detail) 1565

16. Early Spring (Detail) 1565

17. Summer 1565

18. Bruegel’s landscape, always fills with
people. He chose to depict secular
themes, in keeping with his cultural
humanist approach.
Summer Details 1565

19. Summer Details 1565

20. Harvesters. 1565

21. Harvesters Details 1565

22. Harvesters Details 1565

23. Autumn 1565

24. Autumn (Details) 1565

25. Autumn (Details) 1565

26. Winter Landscape with a Bird-Trap. 1565. Oil on panel. 37x55.5 cm. Pieter Bruegel
the Elder. Flemish. Museum of Ancient Art, Brussels.
Bird Trap 1565

27. Bird Trap. Detail. 1565

28. Conversion of Saul 1567

29. Peasant Dance c1568

30. Peasant Wedding c1568

31. The simplicity of his style is deceptive. On detail examination of his well-known
painting Peasant Wedding, we can see the skill and care he put into painting the
praying man at the end of the table.
A rich man at the wedding
talking to the monk.
Bride Rich man
Piper
Finger licking good
Peasant Wedding (Detail) c1568

32. Thanks to Bruegel’s painting we can travel back in time to witness a wedding meal of
the ordinary people. Bruegel changed his style in his later painting, with larger
portraits of people.
Peasant Wedding (Detail) c1568

33. Peasant Wedding (Detail) c1568

34. The Blind Leading the Blind c1568

35. Enterprise of Vanity
Bruegel in keeping with his
cultured humanist background,
liked to emphasize mankind’s
follies and foolishness.
Buildings that
reach the sky
Following the leader
Dare to reach the sun

36. The Census at Bethlehem. 1566 The Massacre of the Innocents. c1566
In the paintings below Bruegel encapsulated the resentment of the
Spanish rule in his native country. Eventually the rising nationalism
boiled over. It finally erupted in 1567, two years after Bruegel’s death,
leading to the Eighty Years War. Using Biblical stories, Bruegel
disguised his criticism. The setting of the paintings were contemporary,
depicting the scene of a Flemish village.
Political Allusions

37. The Massacre of the Innocents c1566

38. The Census at Bethlehem 1566

39. Painting relative sizes

40. Bruegel lived in a period of change and turmoil. It was an age of
economic expansion, profound social transformations, religious
crises and political upheavals.
In 1567, Philip II of Spain sent the Duke of Alba with his army to
Brussels, which was part of the Netherlands provinces belongs to
Spain. The commander’s order were to forcibly convert the
Protestants, with thousand of Netherlanders sentenced to death.
Philip II of Spain was a staunch Catholic - “I would rather sacrifice
the lives 100,000 people than let up in my persecution of the
heretics.”
Philip II of Spain
In 1557 Spain became the first nation in history to declare bankruptcy. Philip II had
to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596. The country’s
wealth was drained in years of wars. The Netherlands was required to paid half of
the taxes for the vast Spanish Hapsburg Empire. Bruegel’s ‘The Census of
Bethlehem’ was a veiled reference to this burden. Whilst the brutality of the Duke of
Alba’s rule was recorded by his ‘The Massacre of the Innocents’ .
Netherlands rebelled that the marked the beginning of the Eighty Years War ending
with the division of Catholic Belgium from the Protestant Holland.
History of his Time

41. Brueghel is firmly within the Flemish painting tradition influenced
by Bosch and Patinier.
He rejected the Italian style, with its idealised human forms &
nudes, the strong religious themes , the allegorical settings or
the aristocratic portraits. But instead, his human is harshly
realistic, fable, and even incorrigible. He preferred to paint the
blinds and the cripples. He painted the ordinary people in their
daily life, within the genre tradition of the Flemish painting.
In his later paintings, like the ‘Peasant
Wedding’ and the ‘ Peasant Dance’ ,
people are no longer tiny figures in a bird
eye's view settings but as recognisable
individuals in an enclosed settings.
He was deeply impressed by the Alpine
scenery with its majestic peaks and valley
in contrast to his country. He also liked
painting ships and port.
Bosch
Patiner
Artistic Style

42. Big Fish and Little Fish 1556

43. See the above paintings in Pieter Bruegel in Details
slideshow
The End
Music from the ballet Sylvia (1876), act III, Divertissment No 20
(Pizzicati). Composed by Leo Delibes (1836-1891).

44. Dutch Painters