Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Childhood

Pieter Bruegel the Elder was one of the great artists of the Northern Renaissance. Pieter Bruegel was born in a peasant family near Breda in Netherland, and the born year is between 1525 and 1530, but little information exists about his childhood.our website of  canvas art paintings  is famous for  famous Artists  art.

Early training

Pieter’s artistic training first started under the apprenticeship with Pieter Coecke Van Aelst. After Van died in 1550, Pieter moved to Antwerp, where he received his first commission. There he assisted in the making of a triptych altarpiece, and it was for the glove-maker guild. The guild system played a huge part in the development of his artistic career. Pieter and his personal life changed when he was elected to the Guild of St. Luke, Antwerp painter’s association.

Mature period

In 1552, Pieter left Antwerp for painting research through Italy. The Italian style did not influence Pieter, but the countryside hugely impacted the young artist’s career. After that, he was well-known for his landscape works. Particularly Swiss Alps that Pieter ventured on his way back home had inspired his artistic vision.

After returning to Antwerp in 1555, Pieter started working as an engraver for the Dutch artist. Pieter produced humorous themes and motifs, and because of that, he was known as the “Pieter the droll.” Pieter was a very quiet and prudent man. Even though he was a man of few words, he loved to make people happy with his unexpected jests and noises. During his middle life, there are very few paintings Pieter produced. Itthat lead to comparisons with one of the famous Dutch painters Hieronymus Bosch. 

Late period

Pieter was well-known for his painting and didn’t embrace it until the late period of his career. After 1557 he started focusing on painting and developed a new compositional style. It allowed him to be compared with other masters and also to establish himself as an in-demand artist. After that, he got many commissions, mainly from the wealthy members of the church. The artist changed his name from “Peeter Brueghel” to “Pieter Bruegel” in 1559.

In 1563 Pieter got married to Mayken Coecke, who was the daughter of his former teacher. There was a huge age gap between the two. The artist was in his thirties, and his wife was only 18. They both had two artistic sons, Pieter Brueghel and Jan Brueghel. The young Pieter created many copies of his father’s paintings.

Later in his career, apart from many landscape paintings, Pieter created different works showing everyday life and religious stories. 

Pieter lived in a politically disturbing era that affected his work. In the mid-1500s, the modern-day Netherlands was going through trouble times under the rule of the Hapsburg dynasty. 

Death

A little is known about the death of Pieter. But in 1569, in the final period of his life, the city council of Brussels released him from the obligation because he was working with a Spanish guard in his home. It is believed that Pieter died from illness, and it is one of the tragedies in art history.

Legacy

During his time, Pieter was seen to take a break from the famous Italian Renaissance style. He mostly focused on creating landscapes and contemporary life. Due to that, Pieter helped to make sure the Renaissance art in Northern Europe would develop in its own and unique direction. Pieter’s artworks and paintings influenced so many developments in modern art. Pieter’s way of representing common people in his artwork and everyday scenes of domestic life has helped so many Dutch artists in that period. During the 20th-century, poets like W.H Auden and William Carlos were inspired by Pieter’s vision.

Pieter was known for his genre, painting scenes captured with empathy, honesty, and humour. He loved representing peasant’s life. Pieter also produced a series of mythological paintings in which the attention shift from nominal subject to the scenes of everyday life. The collectors highly valued Pieter’s work than the critics. His friends Abraham Ortelius described Pieter as “the perfect painter of his century.” Pieter’s son had a large studio full of the replicas of Pieter’s work and his compositions.