Pieter Bruegel the Elder

[Liv]

220px-BruegelPortrait.jpg (24.83 KiB) Viewed 2613 times

Someone once said virtue is incomplete without action, (Unknown) and from everything I’ve found of Bruegel, such a mantra would have befit well with Bruegel’s observation of the world. A man of incredible talent who rejected the style of art (Italian style of religious heroes) at the time, as well as (most likely) the occupation and religious oppression by the Spanish at the time. Yet Bruegel seemed to be intelligent enough to recognize that his success both in his art career and his position within society relied on his conformity to certain civil standards at the time.

It’s easy to see such actions as hypocritical, however Bruegel found ways in both his art, and his message to express his firm rejection of the typical religious and political dogmas at the time. Through Bruegel’s works we see a clear bias towards living a valuable life as exemplified through his use of proverbs and allegorical mythological devices. Bruegel was likely torn, judgmental, and cynical about those (the Catholic Spanish) who professed virtue without action, without sacrifice, and those oppressed into starvation, fear and poverty. Indeed much of Bruegel’s work involve the actions of everyday individuals struggling in their lives: eating, breathing and living for a God who seemed absent, and had forsaken them.

As the chronology of Bruegel’s works forward, we find the perspectives growing closer, but the backs are still turned away from the observer, a metaphysical expression joining the art with the real-world, an intended final joke upon Bruegel to shun those wealthy enough to purchase the paintings of immortalized commoners who through art outlived their “Gods”.

Pieter Bruegel (elder) AKA “The Great Observer”
o Period: (Northern) Renaissance (Flemish)
o 40 Paintings, 50 Drawings known.
o Born 1525-1530 (Broghel near Breda)
o Died Sept. 5 1569 (Brussels)
o Humanist, and describes “religion as a barrier between man and God”.
o Libertinism or Spiritualism
o Employer: Hieronymus Cock (1555)
o Spouse: Mayken Cock (daughter of mentor)

In the piece, Kermis at Hoboken there occurred an instance where there was both a drawing and an engraving. In one Bruegel either intentionally or otherwise left the cross out of one, suggesting Bruegel may have leaned towards secular beliefs, and/or modified his pieces depending on the client. (Hand)

A single quote is attributed to Pieter Bruegel “Because the world is so faithless, I go my own way mourning.” (Burgher)

Bruegel was living in Brussels when the Spanish (Philip II of Spain) sent the Duke of Alba to convert Protestants under the new ideology that it was a state threat, and stated he’d rather sacrifice 100,000 lives then stop the persecution of the heretics. (A Brief Life). One can contemplate the effects of religious impressions upon a younger Bruegel and the effects of an altered state of belief later in life.

Bruegel had a relationship with a maid prior to moving to Brussels, but she refused to marry him, calling him an “inveterate liar” (Hughes, 86). It is suggested that his mother-in-law (Cock) actually asked him to leave Antwerp and move to Brussels to forget this girl. Some believe it was due to Bruegel being a heretic and libertine. (Hughes, 86)

It’s believed many more works with hidden symbolisms may have existed but were destroyed to prevent the future generations of his family from “being incriminated” (Burgher). On his death bed, Bruegel instructed his wife to destroy certain paintings (Alphonseage).

Bruegel, nicknamed “Peasant Bruegel” often painted commoners incognito as one to capture the natural state (realism) of regular people, outcasts, etc. who often were seen as crudely humorous, or merely endearingly flawed to the better educated class Brueghel came from. This mannerism, of breaking from high renaissance, displayed rounded, frumpy faces, fat fingers, and expressions and manners of a less couth class of people. (Wiki: Mannerism)

Bruegel was known to joke with his friends, such as the case of a painting for the Brussels government commissioned to his friend Hans Vredeman de Vries who painted an elegant summerhouse then was “graffiti’d” by Bruegel with a “peasant in befouled shirt occupied with a peasant woman” (Gibson,10).

Much like Chaucer, I think what Bruegel wanted his works to do was ask a question. They weren't meant to be taken literal, and often the hidden messages could only be realized by the partnership of the wealthy observer, and commoner themes painted within. It’s in that moment when the wealthy owner of the painting stares upon the impoverished souls of those painted and realizes that their “God” has destined them immortalized in paint, and the rich observer will be forgotten as death shreds their canvas of life. It’s then Bruegel asks, “What is the value of your life? “

Works Cited and Consulted

Gombrich, E.H. (2006). The Story of Art. Phaidron Press Inc. New York. (Veco Text)
Hand, John and Judson, J.R. and Robinson, William and Wolff, Martha. (1986) The Age of
Bruegel: Netherlandish drawings in the 16th Century. Cambridge Press. Cambridge, U.K. (VUB)
Unknown. Dull Gret, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dull_Gret
Golberg, Stephany (2012). Go To Hell. The Smart Set from Drexel University.
http://thesmartset.com/article/article05031201.aspx
Gibson, Walter S (1997). Pieter Bruegel and the Art of Laughter. University of California
Press. Los Angeles. (ULB)
Hughes, Robert (1967) The Complete Paintings of Bruegel. Rizzolo Editore. Italy. (Delsemme)
Unknown. Passion for Proverbs. U.C. Press, retrieved from
http://www.ucpress.edu/content/chapters/11236.ch01.pdf
Daniel. (2012) Twelve Proverbs. Return to Zero. Retrieved from:
http://dancarman.blogspot.be/2012/02/tw ... verbs.html
Unknown. Antwerp. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp
Burgher, Mike. Mr Burgher’s Art Facts. Retrieved from:
http://burgher-art-facts.tripod.com/bruegel_elder.html
Unknown. A Brief Life in Dangerous Times. History of Art. Retrieved from:
http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/bruegel01.html (9/11/2012)
Alphonseage. (2010) Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Youtube. Retrieved from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTd7MNIBqfc (9/11/2012)
Abraham Ortelius. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Ortelius
(9/12/2012)
Mannerism. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannerism (9/11/2012)