P Bruegel’s greatness is so widely acknowledged today that it is hard to imagine that in his life his supremacy was not recognised. He was immensely popular, but many contemporaries regarded his work as old-fasioned. The greatest Flemish artist of 16th century. This realistic and landscape painter, gives us a gleam of life in the Low Country 400 years ago. His paintings are full of details & messages and so interesting to look at. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c1525/30-69), nicknamed ‘Peasant Bruegel’, was the most important satirist in the Netherlands after Bosch and one of the greatest landscape painters. After he became Master in the Antwerp Guild in 1551, he went to France and Italy, travelling as far south as Sicily. He was impressed by the landscape of Italy but not so on the Italian paintings. From his painting, he gave us insights to the peasant life and their relationship with nature of 16C in the Low Countries. He was an educated man, well able to associate with his distinguished clients and sophisticated enough disguised his political opinions as a biblical story.

1. in Details
First created 20 Aug 2021. Version 1.0 - 2 Mar 2022. Daperro. London.
Pieter Bruegel the
Elder
Hunters. 1565.
Christ Carrying
the Cross 1566,
The Tower of
Babel 1563.
The Massacre of
the Innocents 1566.
Census of
Bethleham.

2. Tower of Babel 1563
To Bruegel, the Tower of Babel signified the vanity of human endeavour. The
painting placed in the contemporary settings (not in biblical settings), with a 16C
Netherlandish town behind, with a harbour and the sea beyond.

3. Tower of Babel 1563

4. Tower of Babel (Detail) 1563

5. Tower of Babel (Detail) 1563

6. Tower of Babel (Harbour) 1563
A harbour port by the entrance to the city, behind the tower, bringing goods for the
construction of the tower.

7. Tower of Babel (Town Left) 1563
Town behind the tower on the left, showing a river behind the tower.

8. Tower of Babel (Behind the Tower) 1563
Details. The city and countryside behind the tower, onto the open sea.

9. Tower of Babel c1563

10. Christ Carrying the Cross 1564

11. Christ Carrying the Cross 1564

12. Christ Carrying the Cross (Cyrence) 1564
Christ was unable to carry the cross, so the authority ordered Simon of Cyrene to
carry the cross for Jesus. Here Simon’s wife was fighting against the soldiers.

13. Christ Carrying the Cross (Crowd) 1564
Crowd on-lookers following Jesus to the crucifixion site.

14. Christ Carrying the Cross (The Cross) 1564
Jesus fell as he carried the crucifixion cross.

15. Christ Carrying the Cross (The Thieves) 1564
The two thieves that were crucified with Jesus, was transported by a wagon. One
of the thieves was holding the cross in his hands.

16. One of the Spanish soldier with a flag accompanied the cart with the two thieves.
Christ Carrying the Cross (Spanish Escort) 1564

17. Christ Carrying the Cross (Mourners) 1564
The mourners – Virgin Mary, St John and two Marys.

18. Christ Carrying the Cross (Windmill) 1564
One of the mystery on the painting is windmill on the top of a tall pinnacle rock.
Some interpreted this to represent the church, as the vanes of the windmill is in the
shape of a cross. Others interpret it as the place of the Last Supper.

19. Christ Carrying the Cross (Crucifix site) 1564
The crucifixion site was in the distance. A crowd was already at the site waiting for
the ‘spectacle’. The two crosses for the thieves had been erected an a hole was dug
for Jesus cross. A popular theme of Bruegel was to depict the foolishness of man.

20. Hunters in the Snow 1565

21. Winter 1565

22. Roasting a pig outside a beer house
in contrast with the hunters, who
managed to catch a fox.
Winter (Detail) 1565

23. Winter (Downhill Hunter) 1565
A hunter walking downhill.

24. Winter (Detail Watermill) 1565
Frozen watermill.

25. One of the best snow scene of all
times. It is an alpine village in depth
of winter, as our eyes follow the line
of descending trees into the village. It
is a composite of pictures.
Winter (Detail country road) 1565

26. Winter (Foothill) 1565

27. Winter (River) 1565
A river at the back of the village bring fresh water to the villages.

28. Winter (Buildings at foothill) 1565
A group of buildings at the foothill, under snow covered landscape.

29. Winter (Frozen pond) 1565
People from the local village were playing and walking of the frozen pond. Again
the settings of this painting was not based on Bruegel’s Low Countries.

30. The Census at Bethlehem 1566

31. Census of Bethlehem 1566

32. The painting was direct
reference to the heavy
taxes imposed by the
Spanish on the
Netherlands provinces.
The criticism was
veiled as a Biblical
story in which Joseph
and Mary had to return
to Bethlehem to
register and pay their
taxes before the birth of
baby Jesus.
Census of Bethlehem (Detail) 1566

33. Although Joseph & Mary are at the centre of the painting but they are inconspicuous and
nobody take any notice of them. It was set in a 16C village in the Netherlands.
Census of Bethlehem (Detail) 1566

34. Census of Bethlehem (Playing in the Pond) 1566
Children playing on a frozen pond

35. Census of Bethlehem (Playing in the Pond) 1566
Crowd standing at window paying their fees for registration.

36. Census of Bethlehem (Playing in the Pond) 1566
The house of the leper. Holding in his hands were two wooden boards, showing that he
was a leper. Outside of the house on the pole was his bowl asking for food.

37. Census of Bethlehem (Sun Rise) 1566
Sunrise behind the tree, frozen water provided a shortcut between the two sides of the
town.

38. Massacre of the Innocents c1566

39. Massacre of the Innocents c1566

40. Massacre of the Innocents (Stabbing) c1566

41. Massacre of the Innocents (Begging) c1566

42. Massacre of the Innocents (Thought the window) c1566

43. Massacre of the Innocents (Soldier Pissing at Wall) c1566

44. Music Water Music by Handel.
The
End

45. The exact day of his birth is unknown, probably about
1520s near Breda.
In 1551, he was admitted to the Antwerp guild of painters.
In 1555, he worked with Hieronymus Bosch, the publisher
of engravings and etchings . The popular publishing house
was the cultural centre and a meeting place for art lovers
and scholars.
In 1552-3, he travelled to France and Italy. He evidently
stayed in Calabria, Rome, Naples and the Alps in Austria.
In spite of his visit, he deliberately rejected the Italian
style. Instead he distinguished himself by paintings
ordinary people in their daily lives.
In 1563, after his marriage, he moved to Brussels where
his son Jan and Pieter were born. Most of his well-known
paintings are from this period.
Bruegel died in 5 September 1569. Only 9 years since he
moved to Brussels.
In 1559, he changed his name from Brueghel to Bruegel.
“That Pieter Bruegel was
the most perfect painter of
his century no one, except a
man who is envious, jealous
or ignorant of that art will
ever deny. He was snatched
away from us in the flower
of his age.” Abraham
Ortelius, the cartographer.
Life of Pieter Bruegel the Elder

46. Dutch Painters