Brueghel, Pieter

(the Elder, ca. 1525-1569)

   The principal Dutch painter of the 16th century. Though highly educated, closely linked to leading humanists, and patronized by the Habsburg rulers, he concentrated many of his paintings on the life and customs of the lower classes. A trip to Rome and Naples in 1552-1553 left him not with the usual northern artist's interest in contemporary Italian art but with an interest in landscape, perhaps derived from Venetian landscape paintings but in his case vividly expressed in the background of depictions of peasant groups (for example, The Return of the Hunters, The Blind Leading the Blind, and Peasant Wedding) which present an unromanticized view of the life of ordinary folk. Though his work continues traditional Flemish realism, there are also many signs of the influence of the fantastic and psychologically disturbing works of Hieronymus Bosch. He also painted religious and allegorical scenes, but his own religious beliefs remain elusive, perhaps a reflection of the religious tensions of a society undergoing spiritual upheaval and living on the brink of civil war. Nevertheless, the Habsburg rulers found his work appealing, so that many of his finest works are now in Vienna. The family artistic tradition continued with his sons, Pieter the Younger (1564-1638) and Jan the Elder (1568-1625), for at least two additional generations.