Pieter Bruegel the Elder was astonishingly independent of the dominant artistic interests during his time, despite his taking the requisite journey to Italy for purposes of study. He deliberately revived the late Gothic style of Hieronymus Bosch as the point of departure from Italian mannerism for his own highly complex and original art.
While Karel van Mander, a Dutch biographer, claims that Netherlandish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder was born in a town of the same name near Breda, most recent authorities follow the Italian writer Guicciardini in designating Breda itself as the birthplace of Pieter. It is inferred that Pieter was born between 1525 and 1530 on the basis of the fact that Pieter entered the guild of Antwerp painters in 1551.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder entered the house of Hieronymus Cock as an engraving designer in 1556. Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing of Pieter that year was published as an engraving by Hieronymus. Hieronymus substituted the name of Bosch for Bruegel to exploit the popularity of the works of Bosch in Antwerp at the time.
Unlike Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1557 that carried the name of Hieronymus Bosch, the series Seven Deadly Sins, engraved in 1558, carried the own signature of Pieter. It was a sign of the increasing importance of Pieter during the time.
In Combat of Carnival and Lent, Pieter Bruegel the Elder showed a new sensitivity to color, specifically in the use of bright primary hues and a rhythmic organization of forms which were unique to Pieter.
The 1562 painting of Pieter Bruegel the Elder entitled the Triumph of Death, was interpreted as a reference to the outbreak of religious persecutions in the Netherlands at the time. Meanwhile, the 1563 painting of the Tower of Babel was intended to symbolize the futility of human ambitions and to criticize the spirit of commercialism then reigning in Antwerp.
While Karel van Mander, a Dutch biographer, claims that Netherlandish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder was born in a town of the same name near Breda, most recent authorities follow the Italian writer Guicciardini in designating Breda itself as the birthplace of Pieter. It is inferred that Pieter was born between 1525 and 1530 on the basis of the fact that Pieter entered the guild of Antwerp painters in 1551.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder entered the house of Hieronymus Cock as an engraving designer in 1556. Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing of Pieter that year was published as an engraving by Hieronymus. Hieronymus substituted the name of Bosch for Bruegel to exploit the popularity of the works of Bosch in Antwerp at the time.
Unlike Big Fish Eat Little Fish, a pen drawing by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1557 that carried the name of Hieronymus Bosch, the series Seven Deadly Sins, engraved in 1558, carried the own signature of Pieter. It was a sign of the increasing importance of Pieter during the time.
In Combat of Carnival and Lent, Pieter Bruegel the Elder showed a new sensitivity to color, specifically in the use of bright primary hues and a rhythmic organization of forms which were unique to Pieter.
The 1562 painting of Pieter Bruegel the Elder entitled the Triumph of Death, was interpreted as a reference to the outbreak of religious persecutions in the Netherlands at the time. Meanwhile, the 1563 painting of the Tower of Babel was intended to symbolize the futility of human ambitions and to criticize the spirit of commercialism then reigning in Antwerp.
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