Pieter Bruegel Research Paper

There is very little information about Pieter Bruegel’s life because the only two main early sources are by Lodovico Guicciardini’s account of the Low Countries (1567) and Karel Van Mander’s Het Schilder-boeck (1604). It is unknown exactly when and where Pieter was born, but there are multiple sources that state different dates and locations. It is estimated that he was born around 1525-1530 due to the fact that he had entered the Antwerp Painters’ Guild in 1551. There are a various thoughts on where he was born. Guicciardini states Pieter was born in or around Breda. Van Mander specified that Pieter maybe have been born in a village near Breada called “Bruegel” but that does not fit any known place. Breda was a significant centre as the base

THe other things we know are that Pieter married Mayken and they had two children, Pieter the Younger and Jan. The well known artist is also referred to as Peasant Bruegel. This to tell him apart from his family and in reference to the subject matter of many of his works, which he was a pioneer in making the focus, even in large paintings. Sources have said that he also became known as Peasant Bruegel because he used to attend social peasant gatherings dressed as a peasant himself. Pieter was a highly educated townsmen who was known to be on friendly terms with the humanists of his time. Although he was among the highly educated, he never mastered the language of Latin and so he had others add the Latin captions in his drawings. Pieter is known to be the greatest artist of Dutch and Renaissance painting. He was a Flemish painter and printmaker. He is best known for his peasant scenes or landscapes, and also painted a number of biblical themes. Pieter did not began to explore present themes in depth until his last three years of

He had many contributions to the Renaissance but a few were that he used vibrant colors and portrayed peasant life within his work. Some of his most famous paintings include: The Hunters in the Snow, Netherlandish Proverbs, The Peasant Wedding, The Tower of Babel, Children's Games, etc. Pieter Bruegel painted three different paintings of The Tower of Babel. One of the paintings are lost and cannot he found but the other two show some of his finest and most famous work. “One of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's famous paintings, "The Return of the Hunters", was painted in 1565. The subject matter of the artwork is peasant hunters returning from the hunt. The landscape opens in front of the hunters into a wide deep landscape setting. The figures themselves are dwarfed by the magnificent winter vista indicating Bruegel may have been interested in winter scene than in the activities of the hunters themselves” (http://www.arthistory-famousartists-paintings.com/PieterBruegel.html ). “The Return of the Hunters” was not the only painting representing the Seasons. The five that survived are: Gloomy Day, Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow (all Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), Haymaking (Národní Galerie, Prague), and The Harvesters