About the Artist

Pieter Bruegel (C. 1527 Breda-1569 Brussels), nicknamed "Peasant" Bruegel, was the first in a long series of artists in his family. He became a member of the Painters' Guild in Antwerp in 1551. The following year he travelled to Italy, probably returning in 1555. In 1563 he settled in Brussels, where he, a respected humanist, formed part of the circle surrounding the poet and academic Dirk Volckertsen (1522-1590). In his paintings, Bruegel applies the idealized Renaissance concept of man to the peasant class, which he portrays both at work and at play following Hieronymus Bosch's example, these pictures depict traditional adages using grotesque and tragicomic elements in their humorous, sometimes biting illusions. Brugel was the most original and influential painter of his time, and his simultaneously poetic and realistic landscapes had a lasting influence on Flemish art and that of the northern Netherlands. Among the artist's major works are The Tower of Babel, 1563, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Return of the Hunters (January), 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and Peasant Dance, C. 1568, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.