The name of the artist Pieter Brueghel is known to all connoisseurs and art lovers. This Dutch painter replenished the world collection of masterpieces with masterful landscapes and genre paintings, but in his whole life he never tried to describe the intricacies of his own work either in articles, or in letters, or in treatises, which was rather unusual for that time. Also, few people know that the name of Pieter Bruegel began a dynasty of artists who left their mark on world painting. Unfortunately, even Brueghel himself was not destined to find out about this.
Childhood and youth
The date and place of birth of the master is still disputed. According to the official version, Pieter Bruegel was born in 1525 in a city called Breda (now this place is located in the province of North Brabant). However, some art historians and researchers of the artist’s biography also name later dates of the alleged birth of Brueghel, and the village of Bregel is called the place of his birth, the name of which was allegedly reflected in the painter’s surname.
Biographers did not find reliable information about the childhood years of the genius. Presumably, the father and mother of Pieter Brueghel were simple peasants. Around the beginning of the 1540s, Peter, who was barely 20 years old, began to study painting and drawing with the artist Cook van Aelst. After the death of his first teacher, Pieter Brueghel joined the painters' guild of the city of Antwerp, and in 1551 got a job with the artist Hieronymus Cock, who for some time became Brueghel's mentor and main customer.
Painting
There, in the workshop of Kok, Peter got acquainted with the works of another great artist -. These paintings (or rather, prints of paintings that the owner of the workshop sold) made such an impression on Brueghel that the novice master spent a lot of time trying to reproduce the work of the “master of horror”.
This did not escape the gaze of Hieronymus Kok, who was quick to take advantage of the naivety of the novice artist and asked Peter to draw a couple of sketches in the style of Bosch. Later, these works (in particular, the painting "Big fish eat small ones") Kok will sell with a fake signature of Bosch.
In parallel with painting, Pieter Brueghel also became interested in traveling. For several years, the artist traveled all over Europe, visited Switzerland, Italy, France and tried to express the emotions presented by new countries on canvas. So, for example, one of the first professional creations of the master was born in Italy - the painting “Landscape with Christ and the Apostles”, and the Swiss Alps “gave” the world a series of marvelous landscapes.
In 1561, the artist left the workshop of Jerome Cock and moved to Brussels. There, Pieter Bruegel's customers were Cardinal de Granvel, as well as wealthy collectors, in particular the merchant Nicolas Jongelink.
The most significant work in the work of Brueghel of that time is considered the “Triumph of Death” - an image of a desert land covered with skeletons and dying, as well as terrible instruments of torture, which even now make you shudder. And the figure of a man playing the lute in the middle of a nightmare further emphasizes the horror of what is happening on the canvas.
Also, art connoisseurs note the painting “The Tower of Babel” and a cycle of paintings called “Paintings of the Months and Seasons”. Pieter Brueghel created, according to various sources, from 6 to 12 canvases, reflecting the charm of the periods of the year, but only five works have survived, among which are known "Hunters in the Snow" and "Harvest".
The artist paid the main attention to simple and understandable images, revealing the beauty of nature, as well as the way of life and characters of the villagers and hard workers. The paintings of Pieter Brueghel are considered a visual demonstration of the clothes and home furnishings of the people of that time. Such are the "Flemish Proverbs", "Peasant Wedding".
Personal life
The personal life of Pieter Brueghel developed happily. In 1553, the artist proposed to the girl Maria, the daughter of Cook van Aelst, his former mentor. Maria happily agreed to the wedding with her lover. In this marriage, three children were born.
No reliable information has been preserved about the fate of Pieter Brueghel's daughter, but it is known about the life path of the artist's two sons. Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder followed in their father's footsteps and became eminent painters.
The first for the nature of the work received the nickname "Hellish", and the second - "Paradise". Pieter Brueghel himself, in order to avoid confusion, began to be called "Peasant". Pieter Brueghel's grandchildren, Jan and Abraham, also became artists.
Such heredity is surprising, because at the time of the death of Pieter Brueghel, the eldest son was barely five years old, and the artist did not even have time to pass on the subtleties of craftsmanship to his sons.
Death
When Bruegel was just over 40, Brussels was occupied by Spanish troops, led by the Duke of Alba. Chaos began in the city, people lived in constant fear and an atmosphere of distrust even towards each other. Perhaps these experiences crippled the health of the master. The artist died on September 5, 1569. According to bibliographers, Pieter Brueghel died due to an unknown disease.
The last creations of the artist are the paintings "Forty on the Gallows" (which Peter Brueghel allegedly bequeathed to his wife), as well as the painting "The Triumph of Truth", the existence of which is disputed by some biographers and art historians. The fact is that this work has not survived to this day, and, according to historians, there are serious reasons to doubt that it really existed.
Most of the paintings by Pieter Brueghel that have survived to this day are kept in European museums and private collections. There are no paintings by the artist in Russian museums.
In 2011, the Polish director Lech Majewski made the film The Mill and the Cross, which was based on some facts from the biography of Pieter Brueghel, as well as plots of the artist's paintings. This picture received flattering reviews from critics, as well as several serious film awards. The actor appeared in the image of the great master, Michael York and Joanna Litvin also starred in the film.
Artworks
- 1559 - "Battle of Maslenitsa and Lent"
- 1559 - "Dutch Proverbs"
- 1562 - "The Triumph of Death"
- 1563 - "Tower of Babel"
- 1564 - "Suicide of Saul"
- 1565 - "Return of the herd"
- 1566 - "Census in Bethlehem"
- 1566 - "Massacre of the Innocents"
- 1567 - "Land of lazy people"
- 1568 - "Peasant wedding"
- 1568 - "The Parable of the Blind"
The message about Pieter Brueghel the Elder, a Dutch painter, is set out in this article.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder short biography and interesting facts
The future artist was born in 1525. The place where Pieter Brueghel the Elder was born is the town of Breda (according to another version in the village of Brueghel) in the Netherlands. The exact date of birth is unknown. His creative activity began with graphics: first he studied with Van Aelst, and then he created drawings for the engraving publisher Kok.
In the period 1551-1553 he made a trip to Italy. In parallel with this, his creative individuality as an artist is determined. In 1551 he was elected a member of a professional art association - the Guild of St. Luke, located in Antwerp. Therefore, it can be argued that the artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder has already taken place.
In the early 60s of the 16th century, changes took place in Brueghel's personal life. He ties the knot in 1563 to Maria Cook, daughter of his former teacher and mentor Alst. This allowed him to achieve a higher position in society and acquire useful contacts. The couple settled in Brussels. New opportunities opened up for the artist, as rich nobles and crowned persons lived in the capital, who could become his patrons. Here Peter began to write his paintings in a new manner, far from the prevailing style and principles of composition.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder did not yet know that he had only 6 years to live. But in this relatively short period, he managed to create many masterpieces. Among his customers were major personalities: Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvela, banker Nicholas Yongelinck. In the early years, he created the now famous series of paintings "Months".
The work of Pieter Brueghel the Elder was largely devoted to images of nature, the village and its inhabitants, biblical characters. Later works radiate pessimistic thoughts about a man who has lost the will to confront and fight, and who is also passively following fate.
Famous paintings by Brueghel- “The Battle of Shrovetide and Lent”, “Flemish Proverbs”, “Carrying the Cross”, “Massacre of the Innocents”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Census in Bethlehem”, “Sermon of John the Baptist”, “Conversion of Saul”, “Harvest”, “ The Parable of the Blind”, “The Fall of Icarus”, “The Tower of Babel”, “Wine at the Feast of St. Martin”, “Sermon of St. John the Baptist”, “Land of the Lazy”, “Cripples”, “Three Soldiers”, “Forty on the Gallows”, "Peasant Wedding", "Nest Destroyer", "Peasant Dance", "The Drunkard is Pushed into the Pigsty".
Pieter Brueghel the Elder interesting facts
- At first, the artist's name was written as Brueghel, but from 1559 the artist began to sign his creations Bruegel.
- He never did not paint nude figures and commissioned portraits, despite the fact that he received such offers from wealthy customers.
- The nickname of Pieter Brueghel the Elder sounded like a Peasant. He received such a nickname so that the artist would not be confused with his son, who also painted pictures.
- The main characters of his paintings were ordinary people and peasants.
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder had three children with his wife. When he died, the eldest son was only 5 years old.
- Until the 20th century, 45 paintings by the master and many sketches have been preserved. Of all the paintings that have survived, about a third is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder - one of the largest representatives of the Flemish Renaissance. The most famous are his paintings and engravings of landscape and genre subjects. At an early age, Brueghel was apprenticed to the artist Pieter Krokke van Aelst. Already in 1551, when he was 26 years old, he was accepted into the painters' guild in Antwerp.
Brueghel received the nickname "Peasant", as he often wore peasant clothes and was a regular at peasant festivities and weddings. He tried to get closer to the locals and feel their way of life in order to use this experience to create his works. Two of his sons also became famous artists - Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder. It is believed, however, that Brueghel was not their teacher, since he died when the children were still very young.
Brueghel can be called the founder of genre painting in the Netherlands. His works are a kind of encyclopedia of the social aspects of society in the 16th century. Most of his paintings are large and detailed images of the surrounding area and the life of the peasants, unfolding against it. Many of his works show the influence of the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. In the works of Brueghel, social criticism first appears. Some researchers suggest that before his death, the artist asked to burn the most provocative of his works in order to protect his relatives from possible political persecution.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Dutch. Pieter Bruegel de Oude [ˈpitər ˈbrøːɣəl]; c. 1525 - September 9, 1569, Brussels), also known by the nickname "Peasant" - a Dutch painter and graphic artist, the most famous and significant of the artists who bore this name. Master of landscape and genre scenes. Father of painters Pieter Brueghel the Younger (Infernal) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (Paradise).
Pieter Brueghel was probably born between 1525 and 1530 (the exact date is unknown). The place of his birth is most often called the city of Breda (in the modern Dutch province of North Brabant) or the village of Bregel near this city.
Initially, the artist's surname was written Brueghel (this spelling was preserved in the names of his children), but from 1559 he began to sign his paintings Bruegel.
He began his creative biography as a graphic artist. By the mid-1540s, he ended up in Antwerp, where he studied in the studio of Peter Cook van Aelst, the court painter of Emperor Charles V.
Brueghel worked in Van Alst's workshop until the death of his teacher in 1550. In 1551, Brueghel was accepted into the Antwerp guild of painters and went to work in the workshop of Hieronymus Cock, who printed and sold engravings. In Kok's workshop, the artist saw prints from Bosch's paintings, which made such an impression on him that he painted his own variations on the themes of the great artist.
In 1552-1553, at the suggestion of Kok, Brueghel traveled to France, Italy, and Switzerland to make a series of drawings of Italian landscapes intended for reproduction in engraving. I was shocked by the ancient monuments of Rome and the masterpieces of the Renaissance, the elements of the sea and the picturesque harbors of the Mediterranean. Presumably in Rome, he worked with the miniaturist Giulio Clovio.
In 1563, Brueghel married the daughter of his teacher Van Aelst, Maria (Meiken).
In 1556, Brueghel worked in Antwerp for the Four Winds printing workshop, owned by the Dutch publisher Hieronymus Cock. Based on Brueghel's drawings, engravings "Big fish eat small ones" and "Donkey at school" were made here. Wanting to please the tastes of wealthy customers, Kok did not even hesitate to forge signatures on engravings. So, the engraving "Big fish eat small ones" was sold with the signature of the famous Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch.
In 1557, Brueghel painted a series of engravings illustrating the seven deadly sins.
In 1563 he moved with his family to Brussels.
You can learn a lot about an artist by answering the question of what he did not paint. As far as is known, Brueghel did not paint commissioned portraits and nudes. Of the portraits attributed to Brueghel, only one is undoubtedly his. This is the painting "Head of a Peasant Woman" of 1564. Surely the artist had no shortage of requests to paint portraits of his contemporaries, but apparently, Brueghel did not accept such orders. Also during this period, a picture was written - "The Adoration of the Magi".
In 1565, the series "Pictures of the Months or Seasons" was written, from which only five works have survived. In late medieval illustrated prayer books for the nobility, religious texts were often preceded by a calendar, where there was a page for each month. The change of seasons was depicted most often through the prism of the occupations corresponding to each month. But for Brueghel, nature plays the main role in the change of seasons, and people, as well as forests, mountains, water, animals, become only part of the vast landscape. "Return of the herds. Autumn”, “Hunters in the snow. Winter” and “Haymaking” are of the same format and, possibly, made for the same customer. The other two are Harvest. Summer" and "Gloomy Day. Spring". Karel van Mander names the rich Antwerp merchant Nicolas Jongelinck as the customer of the entire Months series, who then, urgently in need of a large sum of money, pledged all these paintings and never redeemed them.
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Pieter Brueghel the Elder, whose paintings we will consider, was born in 1525 and died in 1569, on September 15th. Brueghel is known by the nickname Peasant. Pieter Brueghel the Elder painted paintings mainly on everyday topics. We will present the main works of the painter in this article.
"Seasons"
The cycle of paintings on this theme contained 6 or 12 works. Today, only five remain. Pieter Brueghel the Elder supposedly wrote paintings with the names “Hunters in the Snow”, “Return of the Herd”, “Haymaking”, “Harvest” and “Gloomy Day” in 1565. It is from these genre scenes that we will begin to present the works of the artist.
The work "Hunters ..." shows, as expected, December or January.
Three tired hunters with a flock of hounds return home with small trophies. To their left, in the street, in front of the hotel "At the Deer", there is a family who kindles a fire to singe a pig. The landscape that we see from above is a valley with a frozen river and villages. Everywhere is seething with life. Someone is skating or sledding, someone is putting out a fire on the roof, someone is carrying brushwood. The color scheme is dark, especially the green ice and sky, which contrast with the whiteness of the snow and hills in the distance.
We see early spring without a single gap of the sun in the image of "Gloomy Day". One of the characters is busy pruning branches, another collects them into bundles, three more are tipsy and idle. On the seething river, boats rush like chips. The wind drives the clouds across the gloomy sky.
The mood of joy is carried by the work "Haymaking".
It is created in golden-orange tones and shows the lively and cheerful work of the peasants, merged in harmony with nature. In the foreground is a wide road along which peasants, men and women, scurry back and forth. Some on their heads, others on a wagon carry the harvest. Three women with rakes busily go to rake hay. In the background, the wagon with him is already loaded to the top. And nearby in the meadow it is collected in haystacks. Everyone is in a hurry to take advantage of the fine days. Pieter Brueghel the Elder painted pictures with love for his characters, a detailed knowledge of their work and often with a touch of humor.
"Harvest" reflects work later in the summer, perhaps even early in the fall. Someone is actively working, others are already reinforced before further work. One of the men fell asleep in the shade of a tree.
Late autumn, the sky has darkened, turned black, the shepherds are in a hurry to drive the flock, as bad weather is approaching. So Brueghel depicted the "Return of the herd" from the summer pastures.
Terrible events at home
The Spanish army led by Alba invaded the artist's homeland. The atrocities of the invaders began. Several thousand Dutch were recognized as heretics and destroyed. On this subject, Pieter Brueghel the Elder paints very scary and bitter paintings.
"The Triumph of Death" (circa 1562)
In the background - scorched earth, fires blaze. Everything is covered with acrid smoke. Death has multiplied, its bony skeletons flash everywhere. It seems that the Apocalypse has already arrived. In the very distance, a man was prepared for the wheel. At some distance stand the gallows with the hanged. Those condemned to drown have already been dressed in white shrouds and launched into the water. Many have their heads cut off. Death with a scythe destroys everything in its path. Her friend in the upper left corner is ringing the bells, saying that the world has come to an end. In the lower right corner of the picture, the gentleman plays the lute to the lady, preferring not to notice death standing nearby, taking away their neighbor on the banquet table. Opposite them, in the left corner, comes the end of the king with a crown, in armor, in a scarlet cloak lined with ermine. The skeleton, standing nearby, shows on the hourglass how the time of his life is running out. Common people and aristocrats are all equal before death.
Journey to Italy
In 1552-1553 the artist traveled to France, Switzerland and Italy. He was shocked by the monuments of the Eternal City and the masterpieces of the Renaissance. Rethinking them, Pieter Brueghel the Elder creates paintings with Italian motifs on biblical themes. He is worried about how God mixed all languages, not allowing people to blasphemously build a tower to heaven. He created three paintings. We will consider the large one, which is located in Vienna.
Babylonian ziggurat
The painting "Tower of Babel" is very impressive. Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1563rd - year of creation of the work) took the Roman Colosseum as a model. Seven floors have already been built, the eighth is growing, penetrating the clouds, but the tower has already slightly tilted and is collapsing in places. In vain are the efforts of the builders, whose figures are small in comparison with the huge structure. Among the stone blocks, they fell on their knees before Nimrod and his retinue, asking for forgiveness for their failures. Pictures of proud Babylon can be seen in the distance. It was based on a popular story from the Bible about the construction of a tower that reaches the top of the sky. The Biblical sages, hating cities as such, as sinful places, gave a picture of the frailty of human aspirations. And Brueghel depicted not the traditional mixture of languages, but errors in calculations, which is why the tower is collapsing.
Later works
Pieter Brueghel the Elder paints paintings in the late period with the enlargement of the characters in his works. If earlier the figurines were small, now the artist is beginning to take an interest in the person. We will also look at the latest painting, The Blind, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Pictures with descriptions as given above, and will follow further. The work "The Blind" is Brueghel's unfading masterpiece.
Painting "The Blind", Pieter Brueghel the Elder
The plot is based on a parable from the Bible, which says that if a blind man leads the blind, then they will surely fall into the pit.
In the picture, moving in a chain and holding on to one another, the blind are slowly walking. Studies have shown that everyone is blind for various reasons, as the artist depicted blind eyes in such detail. Each of them raised his head, relying not on sight, but on smell and hearing. The guide has already fallen into the pond. The next one has already stumbled over him. The third is about to stumble. The rest do not suspect anything yet, but soon they will all be together. The artist managed to depict the growth of the falling movement. Nobody will come to their aid. Will not save from inevitable death in the pond. Their death is destined. On their faces - helplessness and horror. In the center of the world, the painter put the fate of living people, which no one will regret. So the sighted, who seem to see the way, providence often leads into the abyss.
The painting "Forty on the Gallows" was painted before the death of the artist. She completes his work, filled with spiritual quest.
November in Russia is a memorable month. In November, the revolution, the same one, the October, the Great. Long noted. Now they have stopped. With everything reconciled, agreed with something. But why, when I think about the revolution, do I remember so often Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Pieter Bruegel de Oude, c. 1525 - September 9, 1569). He knew firsthand what an uprising was and managed to reflect it in his canvases. But enough introductions, let's get to the story.
Brueghel has much in common with the revolution. He also loved the common people. For which he received the nickname "Peasant". Only now he loved something for which they usually do not like. His paintings are almost always grotesque. He sincerely liked only children, he thought about adults in a completely different way.
Strange thing, he considered his main teacher, he even began his career as an artist with a forgery of his works. But there were few Bosch in the early independent work of the master - Brueghel was more interested in realism.
The market square is a special place in any medieval city. The center of all life, the center of the holiday. For the artist, the carnival had a special meaning. He liked it when the whole world around seemed to get upside down. It was then that one could see the very essence of things.
Before us is the painting “The Battle of Carnival and Lent”. Post lost. This is pure praise of stupidity. Drunk people, cripples, beggars... We see them first of all. Only children play games, not paying attention to the whims of adults. People are already leaving the church, going out to join the orgy. A fat man sits right in the center on a barrel. On his feet are bowlers, not on his head is a pie. A funny paraphrase of Hieronymus Bosch, his demon of gluttony from the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights". Bosch has a scary demon. Brueghel is funny.
Laughter is the best cure for the fear of death. And she is very close, also here, on the square, right in the right corner of the picture. The corpse of a man who most likely died from the plague. His belly is swollen and flies are swarming over him. People walk by, do not notice him, throw alms into a pot next to the deceased. No one even realizes that he is already dead, that his death threatens the entire city. Before us is a tragedy, but an imperceptible tragedy. It was she who was most interested in Brueghel.
There is something special about this tragedy. When she is on display, everyone notices her, everyone sees her. But in this indifferent world, for the most part, no one cares. And this indifference kills. How can one not recall one episode from the great novel "Quiet Flows the Don" by Mikhail Sholokhov. The moment when the "Reds" come to Grigory Melekhov and one of them just kills his dog. When the hero asks why he did it, he replies that he doesn't care. A dog, a person, any other life - the price of just one cartridge. One cartridge - and it doesn't matter who. So it is in the painting "Icarus" by Brueghel. You don't even see the main character.
Before you is a ship, a peasant, a traveler, a fisherman, a beautiful landscape. And Icarus at the ship - his legs stick out. He wanted to soar into the sky, to teach people to fly. But he fell, and in the end, no one cares. Nobody tries to save him. Go far, and the ship is under sail. What is there, another one died, but what's the difference, there are few deaths or something in the world?
There are many deaths. Pieter Brueghel saw it himself. I saw with what atrocities the Spaniards suppressed the rebellions in their colony, how thousands of people died for nothing at the hands of the Inquisition. It can drive you crazy. And so "Mad Greta" was born. It is this picture that I usually remember when I think about any war.
There is a legend (it is at the heart of the picture) about a woman who went crazy. There was too much grief in her life. Relatives died, the house burned down. She endured everything, but until her frying pan was gone. Then Greta put on armor, took a sword and went to Hell to fight the Devil. She heard he had the best pans. This is where Bosch's time came in Brueghel's life. We see Greta, who, not paying attention to everything that is happening around, goes to her goal. But her figure is comical. In her right hand, she clutches a sword, she wears armor and a helmet, and with her left hand she tries to hold on to all the goodness left from her past life. Not the best offensive tactic. In addition, she does not even notice that the frying pan, because of which she lost her mind and went to war, is still in her basket.
And in the background, women defend their burning house from devils, fighting no worse than professional soldiers. Greta is blind. Blind, not literally, but figuratively. But almost all people are like that. Pieter Brueghel the Elder, who saw too well, knew this better than anyone else. It is no coincidence that he portrayed the blind shortly before his death.
"The Blind" is a beautiful allegory. People love to follow those who are stronger, but at the same time they do not notice where they are being led. They do not know that, at times, the leader himself is blind. How often the road to the "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth ended in failure and bloody massacre. Isn't this the main lesson of history? On the canvas, we see that the first has already fallen, the second only feels that he has lost his balance, but cannot understand anything. Others still do not suspect anything. They fall into the swamp. Their bodies will be swamped, and no one will even remember them.
It is believed that shortly before his death, Brueghel created his best canvas, which he called "The Triumph of Truth." The truth did not survive to this day, the picture disappeared without a trace in history. The artist, who so wanted to open people's eyes, remained in the minds of his descendants a singer of fools, blind men and death. And only children and nature itself in his paintings were able to sincerely enjoy life. Maybe this was the triumph of truth - to look at the world through the eyes of a child?
