Pieter Bruegel the Elder Northern Renaissance

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Pieter Bruegel the ElderNorthern Renaissance
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Childrens Games
Northern Renaissance

• The Northern Renaissance is a term used to
  describe the Renaissance movement outside of
  Italy.
• Across Europe, art was becoming a method of
  personal expression, and some of the old rules
  that governed art were being relaxed.
• While the Italian Renaissance focused on the
  revival of classical (Greek) forms, the Northern
  Renaissance emphasized familiar settings.

• Northern Renaissance painters took the leading
  role in establishing new subject matter, such as
  landscapes and genre works.
• Genre works depict scenes from everyday life,
  such as markets, domestic scenes and street
  scenes.

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Childrens Games, 1560

• This painting depicts over 250 children playing
  over 80 games.
• What do you see in this painting?
• What makes this painting a good example of
  Northern Renaissance art?
• The Town Hall is the building in the center of
  the painting.
• Notice that there are no adults in this painting.
• What is the point of this painting, in your
  opinion?

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Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap

• Pieter Bruegel pronounced broi-guhl the Elder
  was born in the Netherlands in 1525 and died in
  1569.
• He is known as the Elder because both of his
  sons, Pieter the Younger and Jan, became
  well-known artists.
• We know little of his life except that he spent
  time in France Italy before settling in
  Brussels.
• Bruegel is best known for his landscapes
  populated with peasants. Attention to the
  peasant way of life was very rare at the time,
  and Bruegels work creates a window on a vanished
  existence.
• There are about 45 authenticated works of
  Bruegels in existence today.

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Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap
What do you see in this painting? What makes
this painting different from some of Titians
that you saw last month? Notice the perspective
in this painting. There is a difference between
what the artist perceives as far and near in this
painting that was almost totally absent in early
painting, such as the illuminated manuscripts.
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Peasant Wedding

• Bruegel is known as the greatest Flemish painter
  of the 16th century.
• Bruegel was not a peasant but became known as
  Peasant Bruegel because of his subject matter.
  Despite the nickname, he was from a higher class
  and likely looked on peasants as a bit silly and
  foolish. Do you see anything in this painting
  that supports that idea?
• Do you see the bride? She is sitting in front of
  a blue cloth with a smile on her face.
• At first glance, it appears that everyone in the
  painting is either eating or drinking or serving
  food, but more is going on here. What do you
  see?
• What do you think of the artists use of color?
  What is he trying to make you look at? Where is
  your eye drawn in this painting?

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Hunters in the Snow

• This painting is one in a series of six works
  depicting the seasons. This painting represents
  Dec / Jan.
• Again, notice the perspective of the painting.
  This is very different from pre-Renaissance work.
• As with the last painting, there is a lot going
  on here. What do you see?
• What do you think of the colors of this painting?
  What mood is the artist trying to evoke?

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The Painter The Buyer

• This is likely a self-portrait of Bruegel drawn
  in 1565 when Bruegel was 40 years old.
• Even without knowing the name of this work, how
  can you tell that it is a drawing of a painter
  and a buyer?
• Art critics have suggested that the artist in
  this painting looks proud and knowledgeable while
  the buyer looks appears to be unintelligent and
  foolish.
• Do you agree or disagree with this opinion? Why?