Pieter Bruegel the Elder (about 1525 to 1569) worked in Antwerp and Brussels, in the Netherlands then ruled by Spain. He began designing prints for a publisher, traveled to Italy, and became the great painter of the Flemish countryside and its people: peasants at work and at feasts, proverbs acted out, and the seasons of the year.
In 1565 he painted a series of the months or seasons for the house of an Antwerp merchant and collector, Niclaes Jongelinck. There were probably six panels; five survive.
Looking closely: Hunters in the Snow. The hunters and their dogs trudge downhill at the left, their dark shapes sharp against the snow. A line of trees leads the eye down and to the right, out over the valley: frozen ponds full of skaters, villages, a mill with a frozen wheel, and far mountains. The colors are almost all white, black and a cold green-gray. You feel the cold and the long day. The picture is both a landscape of huge depth and a story of ordinary lives.
Looking closely: The Harvesters. Summer in the same series: workers cut wheat with scythes, tie sheaves, carry jugs, and rest under a pear tree for lunch, one man stretched out asleep. Behind them the land opens to a hazy bay. The gold of the wheat fills half the picture. Bruegel shows the work and the rest of farm life with affection and without making it pretty.
Key idea
Why it works
Worked example: Who was Bruegel?
- He worked in the cities of Antwerp and Brussels and traveled to Italy.
- He designed prints for a city publisher and knew learned men.
- His patrons were wealthy collectors like Niclaes Jongelinck.
Answer: He was an educated city artist painting peasant life for rich collectors.
Common mistake