There is very little documentary information about Pieter Bruegel, not even
his exact birth date – perhaps 1526 – or his training have been
ascertained. According to Van Mander he had been a pupil of Pieter Coecke in
Brussels. Coecke was an educated artist who had traveled to Italy and Turkey,
he worked as a painter and tapestry designer, architect and translator of Vitruvius
and Serlius. The first certain date in Bruegel’s life is 1551 when he
was registered in the guild of St. Luke in Antwerp under the name «Peeter
Brueghels». The following year he made a trip to France and Italy as we
can see from some drawings of various places on the peninsula. Landscapes were
the primary theme of his early works that can be definitely attributed, such
as the Parabola of the Sower, the first painting that is signed and dated (1557).
That same year Bruegel made the series of copper engravings of the Seven Deadly
Sins. The painting, Children Playing was done in 1560. Although there is no
confirmation, it is quite likely that in 1562 the artist traveled to Amsterdam
and to Besançon. In the summer of 1563 he married Mayeken Coecke, the
daughter of the artist presumed to be his teacher. One of Bruegel’s most
famous paintings dates from the year of his marriage, The Tower of Babel. Their
first child, Pieter – who also became a painter – was born in 1564.
To distinguish him from his father the critics called him Pieter Bruegel the
Younger. Between 1565 and 1568 he painted some of his most renowned works: the
series dedicated to the Months, The Land of Plenty and The Peasant Wedding.
His second son, Jean known as “dei Velluti,” was born in 1568. Pieter
Bruegel the Elder died the following year and was buried in the church of Notre-Dame
de la Chapelle.
http://www.artonline.it/eng/biografia.asp?IDArtista=38
Olga's Gallery
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
(1525/30-1569)
Biography
http://www.abcgallery.com/B/bruegel/bruegelbio.html
Bruegel. Children's Games
http://www.exittoart.nl/framesetmain.htm?http://www.exittoart.nl/gallery1.htm?http://www.exittoart.nl/bruegel/bruegel16.htm
Pieter BRUEGEL
Children's Games - (1560)
http://www.hayalevi.com/cgi-bin/sanatgalerisidetay.asp?resim=16
http://www.abcgallery.com/B/bruegel/bruegel.html
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/bruegel_ext.html
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bruegel/bruegel_childrens_games.jpg.html
http://www.speelgoedmuseum.be/other_languages/museum1_eng.html
Bruegel's 'Children's Games' is an important period document with regard to
the history of games. It features most games that were common at the time it
was painted. It is also important in the sense that it seems to link the games
of antiquity with games that we know today. With this painting, Bruegel delivered
proof of the universal character of play.
High quality version online
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bruegel/bruegel_childrens_games.jpg.html
