Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a Netherlandish Renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes. He was nicknamed Peasant Bruegel to distinguish him from other members of the Bruegel dynasty. He was the greatest member of a large and important southern Netherlandish family of artists active for four generation in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Dutch biographer Karel van Mander, who wrote in 1604, was the one major source of information concerning Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Karel was a near-contemporary of Pieter. He claims that Pieter was born in a town of the same name near Breda on the modern Dutch-Belgian border.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder entered the house of Hieronymus Cock as an engraving designer in 1556. Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing of Pieter that year was published as an engraving by Hieronymus. Hieronymus substituted the name of Bosch for Bruegel to exploit the popularity of the works of Bosch in Antwerp at the time.
Unlike Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1557 that carried the name of Hieronymus Bosch, the series Seven Deadly Sins, engraved in 1558, carried the own signature of Pieter. It was a sign of the increasing importance of Pieter during the time.
In Combat of Carnival and Lent, Pieter Bruegel the Elder showed a new sensitivity to color, specifically in the use of bright primary hues and a rhythmic organization of forms which were unique to Pieter.
The 1562 painting of Pieter Bruegel the Elder entitled the Triumph of Death, was interpreted as a reference to the outbreak of religious persecutions in the Netherlands at the time. Meanwhile, the 1563 painting of the Tower of Babel was intended to symbolize the futility of human ambitions and to criticize the spirit of commercialism then reigning in Antwerp.
The Dutch biographer Karel van Mander, who wrote in 1604, was the one major source of information concerning Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Karel was a near-contemporary of Pieter. He claims that Pieter was born in a town of the same name near Breda on the modern Dutch-Belgian border.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder entered the house of Hieronymus Cock as an engraving designer in 1556. Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing of Pieter that year was published as an engraving by Hieronymus. Hieronymus substituted the name of Bosch for Bruegel to exploit the popularity of the works of Bosch in Antwerp at the time.
Unlike Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1557 that carried the name of Hieronymus Bosch, the series Seven Deadly Sins, engraved in 1558, carried the own signature of Pieter. It was a sign of the increasing importance of Pieter during the time.
In Combat of Carnival and Lent, Pieter Bruegel the Elder showed a new sensitivity to color, specifically in the use of bright primary hues and a rhythmic organization of forms which were unique to Pieter.
The 1562 painting of Pieter Bruegel the Elder entitled the Triumph of Death, was interpreted as a reference to the outbreak of religious persecutions in the Netherlands at the time. Meanwhile, the 1563 painting of the Tower of Babel was intended to symbolize the futility of human ambitions and to criticize the spirit of commercialism then reigning in Antwerp.
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