Pieter Bruegel the Elder a Hunters in the Snow
Pieter Bruegel the Elder a Hunters in the Snow
Peter Soloway ARH 205 6/7/2005
Hunters in the Snow, sometimes called The Return of the Hunters[1], is part of a series of landscapes painted on wooden panels and themed around characteristic periods of the year. The series was finished in 1565 by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, probably for Antwerp merchant Nicholas Jongelinck, who we know entrusted it to the town of Antwerp in February of 1566.[2] The five surviving paintings from the series are The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow, and The Gloomy Day, which now reside together at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, as well as Haymaking (Národní Galerie, Prague), and The Harvest (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.) These panels share several common features in composition and subject matter. Obviously, all are involved with the peasant lifestyle, and depict the seasons through the chores and events with which they are associated. In this respect the series is not unlike the medieval tradition of “Labors of the Months”, common depicted in illuminated books of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Cuttler points out that Bruegel’s peasant figures, like those in traditional works, are never idealized, and are always used to represent a type of person, rather than an individual character. Where the panels tend to differ from the illuminations, however, is in their tone. Bruegel appears more interested in the physical nature of the activities and their relation to the natural world,[3] than the particular passage of time. Through his use of predominantly diagonal-flowing compositions, he leads the viewer’s eye over vast expanses of wild territory featuring lively flora and fauna, and (except in The Harvest) dramatic rock formations. Human figures are inserted into these landscapes, engaging in their own smaller dramas — Hunters in the Snow features distant firefighters putting out a
Peter Soloway ARH 205 6/7/2005
Hunters in the Snow, sometimes called The Return of the Hunters[1], is part of a series of landscapes painted on wooden panels and themed around characteristic periods of the year. The series was finished in 1565 by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, probably for Antwerp merchant Nicholas Jongelinck, who we know entrusted it to the town of Antwerp in February of 1566.[2] The five surviving paintings from the series are The Return of the Herd, Hunters in the Snow, and The Gloomy Day, which now reside together at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, as well as Haymaking (Národní Galerie, Prague), and The Harvest (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.) These panels share several common features in composition and subject matter. Obviously, all are involved with the peasant lifestyle, and depict the seasons through the chores and events with which they are associated. In this respect the series is not unlike the medieval tradition of “Labors of the Months”, common depicted in illuminated books of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Cuttler points out that Bruegel’s peasant figures, like those in traditional works, are never idealized, and are always used to represent a type of person, rather than an individual character. Where the panels tend to differ from the illuminations, however, is in their tone. Bruegel appears more interested in the physical nature of the activities and their relation to the natural world,[3] than the particular passage of time. Through his use of predominantly diagonal-flowing compositions, he leads the viewer’s eye over vast expanses of wild territory featuring lively flora and fauna, and (except in The Harvest) dramatic rock formations. Human figures are inserted into these landscapes, engaging in their own smaller dramas — Hunters in the Snow features distant firefighters putting out a
Cited: Charles D. Cuttler, Northern painting from Pucelle to Bruegel: fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries (New York, 1968) Robert L F. Grossman, Bruegel, the Paintings (London, 1955) Philippe and Françoise Roberts-Jones, Pieter Bruegel (Paris, 1997) Wolfgang Stechow, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (London, 1970) Carel van Mander, Dutch and Flemish painters "Gregorian calendar." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. 2000. F. Grossman, Bruegel, the Paintings (London, 1955), p. 11 [pic] Photocopy B: Source cited in footnotes 15 and 17 Philippe and Françoise Roberts-Jones, Pieter Bruegel (Paris, 1997), p [1] Philippe and Françoise Roberts-Jones, Pieter Bruegel (Paris, 1997), p. 152 [2] Ibid. [3] Charles D. Cuttler, Northern painting from Pucelle to Bruegel: fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries (New York, 1968), p. 478 [4] Robert L [5] Wolfgang Stechow, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (London, 1970), p. 96 [6] Ibid., p [7] "Gregorian calendar." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. 2000. [8] Robert L. Delevoy, Bruegel: historical and critical study. Translated by Stuart Gilbert. (Geneva, 1959), p. 102 [9] Philippe and Françoise Roberts-Jones, Pieter Bruegel (Paris, 1997), p [10] F. Grossman, Bruegel, the Paintings (London, 1955), p. 7 [11] Carel van Mander, Dutch and Flemish painters [12] Philippe and Françoise Roberts-Jones, Pieter Bruegel (Paris, 1997), p. 12 [13] F [14] Carel van Mander, Dutch and Flemish painters. [Translation from the Schilderboeck and introd. by Constant van de Wall] (New York, 1969), p. 153 [15] Philippe and Françoise Roberts-Jones, Pieter Bruegel (Paris, 1997), p [18] Philippe and Françoise Roberts-Jones, Pieter Bruegel (Paris, 1997)., p. 16 [19] Ibid., p