Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564 or 1565 – 1636) was a Flemish painter, known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Brueghel the Elder's paintings and nicknamed "Hell Brueghel" for his fantastic treatments of fire and grotesque imagery.

Although his precise date of birth is unknown, he was 36 years old on May 22, 1601 and died on October 10, 1636 at the age of 72. Therefore, he was born in late 1564 or early 1565.

Life

Pieter Brueghel the Younger was the oldest son of the famous sixteenth-century Netherlandish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder (known as "Peasant Brueghel") and Mayken Coecke van Aelst. His father died in 1569, when Pieter the younger was only five years old. Then, following the death of his mother in 1578, Pieter, along with his brother Jan Brueghel the Elder ("Velvet Brueghel") and sister Marie, went to live with their grandmother Mayken Verhulst (widow of Pieter Coecke van Aelst). She was an artist in her own right, and according to Carel van Mander, possibly the first teacher of the two sons. The family moved to Antwerp sometime after 1578 and Pieter possibly entered the studio of the landscape painter Gillis van Coninxloo (1544-1607). In the 1584/1585 registers of Guild of Saint Luke, "Peeter Brugel" is listed as an independent master. On November 5, 1588 he married Elisabeth Goddelet, and the couple had seven children.

He painted landscapes, religious subjects and fantasy paintings. For this last category he often made use of fire and grotesque figures, leading to his nickname "Hell Brueghel".

Apart from these paintings of his own invention, Pieter Brueghel the Younger also copied the works his father had created by using a technique called pouncing. His genre paintings of peasants lack Pieter the Elder's subtlety and humanism, and emphasize the picturesque. [Gibson, Michael. "A Dynasty of Painters: Belgium Celebrates the Bruegels". "ARTnews" (January 1981): 130.]

Works

*"Allegory of War"
*"Construction of the Tower of Babel"
*"The Crucifixion"
*"The Holy Family with St John"
*"Still-Life of Flowers"
*"Still-Life of the Holy Kinship"
*"Village Fair"
*"The Village Lawyer"
*"Virgin and Child with Infant St John in a Garland of Flowers"
*"Winter, Hunter in the Snow"

Family Tree

ee also

*List of Belgian painters

References

External links

* [http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/b/bruegel/pieter_y/biograph.html Web Gallery of Art: Biography of Pieter Brueghel the Younger]
* [http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bruegel/pieter_y/index.html Web Gallery of Art: Paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger]
* [http://www.abcgallery.com/B/bruegel/pieter.html Pieter Brueghel the Younger at Olga's Gallery]