Pieter Bruegel the Elder is the greatest Dutch artist who painted in his own, rather unique style. His paintings are good for long and thoughtful acquaintance, for those who are in no hurry. And it is also advisable to take a magnifying glass when getting acquainted with his work, since there are many small, but often quite impersonal figures painted there, each of which is busy with some kind of business. All this together creates a feeling of some chaos, where it is difficult to concentrate on one thing, especially if you look at the picture briefly, trying to take in everything that is happening on it with one glance.
Children's Games, 1560
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a very patient and diligent artist, not afraid of large scales and many figures in his paintings. Thus, on the canvas "Children's Games" art historians counted 230 little people - as if several elementary classes went out into the yard at the same time and started various games - a nightmare for educators.
However, real nightmares were in his other works, for example, “The Triumph of Death”, dedicated to the invasion of punitive detachments of the Spaniards led by the Duke of Alba.
The Triumph of Death (c. 1562)
Then the Spanish Inquisition decided to eradicate heresy and did not spare the lives of its soldiers, much less the lives of heretics and Protestants. King Philip II himself said: "I am ready to sacrifice 100,000 lives of my soldiers, if only to eradicate heresy." However, at all times there were rulers whose personal ambitions and desire to follow some, often completely unjustified goal, led to considerable casualties among ordinary people.
In Bruegel's painting, skeletons are found alongside ordinary soldiers, all accompanied by a pile of dead bodies and ranks of marching crusaders. The mythological, fantastic and real are honestly intertwined, leaving a sense of a strange and monstrous phantasmagoria, although certainly very talentedly painted.
It is very difficult to find perspective in these paintings, Bruegel often uses the technique of angular displacement - a special point from which you need to look at the painting so that it appears in the most favorable light. But this point still needs to be found, otherwise you will have to trample around the paintings of this artist sometimes quite a lot, although it is worth it.
The Procession to Calvary, 1564
He also often did not highlight his main characters, so in the painting "The Road to Calvary" you still need to find the figure of Jesus Christ - more details about it and the works of his son Pieter Bruegel the Younger, who made money by copying his father's legacy, can be found on our website.
And this work is not the only one. For example, in the painting "The Census in Bethlehem" not everyone can spot the Holy Family at first glance.
Census in Bethlehem
And looking at the painting “The Fall of Icarus,” the gaze rests on the plowing peasant, but not on Icarus, whose presence can only be guessed at by his legs sticking out of the sea.
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, probably an early copy of Bruegel's lost original, c. 1558
It is therefore not surprising that Pieter Bruegel the Elder was called "Peter the Joker" by art historians of his time - indeed, all this resembled jokes, albeit peculiar, dark and rude ones. But such were the times, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder himself received another nickname - Bruegel the Peasant.
He did not create paintings on themes considered high - beautiful antique subjects, naked goddesses and naiads, commissioned pompous portraits of monarchs and aristocrats, preferring to paint scenes from the lives of peasants and artisans and, in general, all sorts of "lower classes".
The Blind Leading the Blind, 1568
Nothing is known about his origins at all, we can only guess. But the place where he was born is immortalized in his name. Bruegel is a small village in Holland.
It was only when Bruegel began studying with the Antwerp artist Pieter Coeck van Aelst that his biography became more or less clear. However, art historians ask the question: "What connected them?"
The thing is that they understood painting differently. Pieter Coecke van Aelst preferred to paint in the classical romantic vein, originating from Italian painting. He was the court artist of Charles V, and for his work he chose the “high” themes that Bruegel disliked so much. Perhaps they were friends, it is no coincidence that van Aelst often invited Bruegel to his home and even let him babysit his little daughter.
At the insistence of his teacher, Bruegel went to Italy, but the works of Italian masters did not make any impression on him; even the paintings of the great colorist Titian left him indifferent.
However, from the Italian trip Bruegel revealed the main thing - man is part of nature, and therefore people in his paintings are only elements of the landscape, not the crowns of creation, they are almost devoid of individuality, Bruegel is not interested in individual personalities, he looks at the whole world around him.
Naval battle in the harbor of Naples
Bruegel never married, although he maintained a relationship with one servant. But she loved to lie, which the truth-loving artist did not like. Finally, he set a condition - for each lie he would make a notch, if there were 6 of them, then there could be no talk of marriage. The servant did not pass the test and Bruegel refused to marry her.
The Wedding Dance (1566), oil on oak panel, The Detroit Institute of Arts
To earn money, Bruegel drew engravings for the famous Dutch engraver Hieronymus Cock. He was an enterprising man and reasonably judged that only rich aristocrats and merchants could afford expensive oil paintings. But cheap engravings would be gladly purchased by artisans and even peasants, who made up the bulk of the population. Even if he received less money for an engraving, the volumes decide everything. And to provide them, a skilled and fast-working draftsman was needed, such as Pieter Bruegel.
But the times were hard. It was then that Bruegel wrote and painted his famous painting "The Massacre of the Innocents", dedicated, like "The Triumph of Death", to the monstrous crimes of the Spaniards under the leadership of the Duke of Alba.
Massacre of the Innocents, (c. 1565–1567), British Royal Collection; a much-copied painting
He was a true fanatic and did not spare the hard-working and thrifty Dutch who, to their misfortune, adopted Protestantism. Many Dutch women were considered witches by those inquisitors and were mercilessly burned at the stake. It is not surprising that Bruegel created such gloomy paintings - how else could an honest artist, sincerely sympathizing with all those who fell under the merciless roller of the Duke of Alba's punishers, express his attitude to what was happening in his work?
Dulle Griet (1563), Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp
Bruegel married the grown-up daughter of his first teacher Van Aelst, and this was reflected in his work. Dark themes were replaced by more life-affirming and optimistic ones, the tones of the paintings became lighter, and the famous cycle of paintings "The Seasons" creates a feeling of joy and satisfaction with life. After all, ordinary people do not need much - peace and the opportunity to earn a piece of bread, which is what Bruegel tried to depict in his paintings.
The Harvesters (1565), oil on panel, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
He had three children, two of whom became artists. The eldest son, later nicknamed Hellish, began actively copying the works of his famous father, and the second son Jan Brueghel the Elder, nicknamed Paradise, would become a famous landscape painter.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder died on September 9, 1569 in Brussels from an unknown illness, and was never able to properly educate his sons, since they were still very young at the time. But his paintings remained in the history of art as magnificent examples of the Northern Renaissance.
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