KINDERSPIELE
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Pieter Bruegel ( PE ter BROY gul) was born in Belgium. (Sometimes his name is spelled Brueghel .) In 1551 he became an apprentice of an artist, Aelst. He traveled to Italy about that time and painted many pictures, mostly landscapes. He was about 26 years old at the time. He studied art with Pieter Coeck and married his daughter Maiken. They moved to Brussels to live.
His paintings were very popular in his time, and are still popular today, over 400 years later.
In the painting "Children's Games", he shows children playing all sorts of games. Children today still play versions of some of the games shown.
He liked to paint a lot of small figures in a large space.
Another well-known painting by Bruegel is The Tower of Babel which depicts the Bible story of the efforts of men who aspired to build a city and a tower which would reach to heaven. In the same year 1563 he also painted a smaller picture of the tower of Babel which is called The Little Tower of Babel.
According to one writer who lived during Bruegel's time, the artist would show up uninvited at local weddings and village fairs. If he and his friend were going to a wedding, they would dress up as peasants, buy gifts for the bride and groom, pretend to be friends of the families and "crash" the party. They would mingle among the guests and visit with them. In this way he got ideas for his paintings and they were authentic.
The Tower of Babel
Enlarged view
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The Peasant Wedding
Enlarged view
In the painting "The Peasant Dance" the colors are not quite as bright as the vivid colors in "The Peasant Wedding". Notice the miniaturization of the woman and child in the foreground of the picture. They are out of proportion to the rest of the figures in the painting.
"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" is a painting which depicts the story of Icarus and his tragic end as he drowns in the sea. (Observe his legs as he goes under the water in the lower right-hand corner of the picture). The painting includes high mountains, but there were no mountains in the area where Bruegel lived. Once he traveled to Italy to study the works of the great artists there. He was able to view the Alps and he sketched many pictures of the tall mountains. When he returned home he painted landscapes and included the ideas he had gained on his trip. One biographer said that Bruegel "swallowed the mountains on his Italian trip so he could spit them out later in his studio".
The Peasant Dance
Enlarged view
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
Enlarged view
He was called Pieter the Elder. He had two sons who became famous painters. The older of them was named Pieter after his father, and he was called Pieter the Younger or sometimes "Hell Bruegel" because of the gloomy pictures he painted. His second son Jan was called "Velvet Bruegel" or "Flower Bruegel" because he painted rich bouquets of flowers. His grandsons also became artists. This was quite an artistic family.
References:
Hammacher, A.M., and R. Hammacher Vandenbrande. Flemish and Dutch Art. New York: Franklin Watt, Inc, 1965.
Order
Kostner, Thomas, and Lars Roper.50 Artists You Should Know. New York: Prestel, 2006.
Order
Wilder, Jesse Bryant. Art History for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing Inc, 2007.
Order
Pieter Bruegel, Self Portrait
Art Basics for Children
By Rich Jeffus / Visual Manna
Teach your 6- to- 10-year-olds the nuts and bolts of art! Assigning a different alphabet letter to each lesson, this program introduces basic shapes---then demonstrates how to put them together to draw objects, animals, and people. While progressing through elementary drawing skills, students are exposed to black-and-white examples from various artistic movements. 48 reproducible pages, spiralbound softcover.
RESEARCH LINKS
Bruegel
See index in the left column
Details of Children's Games
at Web Gallery of Art
Scroll down to Bruegel, then choose Bruegel, Pieter the Elder - Children's Games
Pieter Bruegel
at Wikipedia
Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Biography of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
To Tell the Truth
art history lesson grades 4-6
Music: Gregorian Chant "Kyrie Eleison" sung by the monks of the Abbey of Notre Dame
A LIBRARY OF
ONLINE BOOKS and BOOK PREVIEWS
Preview these Amazon books using the links below.
Pieter Bruegel
by John Malam (selected pages)
The Life and Work of Pieter Bruegel
by Jayne Woodhouse (selected pages)
Pieter Bruegel
by Adam G. Klein (selected pages)
A Work of Art
by Joan Chambers, Molly Hood, Michael Peake (selected pages)
Art History for Dummies
by Jesse Bryant Wilder (selected pages)
50 Artists You Should Know
by Thomas Koster, Lars Roper (review, no preview)
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Most Recent Comments ( See more comments on this page ) 2010-08-13
This is great page for anyone or any age! Thank you!
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Famous Artists in this Series
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