Pieter Bruegel : the complete paintings / Jürgen Müller, Thomas Schauerte ; edited by Petra Lamers-Schütze ; designed by Andy Disl ; directed and produced by Benedikt Taschen.
Publisher:
Taschen,
Copyright Date:
2020
Description:
511 pages : illustrations (colour, and black and white) ; 23 cm.
The life and times of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1526/301569) were marked by stark cultural conflict. He witnessed religious wars, the Duke of Albas brutal rule as governor of the Netherlands, and the palpable effects of the Inquisition. To this day, the Flemish artist remains shrouded in mystery. We know neither where nor exactly when he was born. But while early scholarship emphasized the vernacular character of his painting and graphic work, modern research has attached greater importance to its humanistic content. Starting out as a print designer for publisher Hieronymus Cock, Bruegel produced numerous print series that were distributed throughout Europe. These depicted vices and virtues alongside jolly peasant festivals and sweeping landscape panoramas. He then increasingly turned to painting, working for the cultural elite of Antwerp and Brussels. Rather than idealizing reality, he bravely confronted the issues of his day, addressing the horrors of religious warfare and taking a critical stand against the institution of the Church. To this end, Bruegel developed his own pictorial language of dissidence, lacing innocuous everyday scenes with subliminal statements in order to escape repercussions.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.