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MaryM
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Pieter Bruegel the Elder is considered the greatest Flemish artist of the 16th century. He was born in the Netherlands probably about 1525. He died in 1569 in Flanders (Belgium). He is called "the Elder" to distinquish him from his sons and grandson who were also artists. Another nickname is "Peasant Bruegel" as he had many paintings of peasant life.
He was one of the first artists to paint landscapes as a main subject matter rather than as a background for portraits or events. In his paintings, he shows men and women relating to their surroundings in a way which foreshadows modern landscape paintings. He developed an original style that contains narrative, or story-telling, meaning.
He has a series of paintings that describe the months/seasons of the year. His winter ones are particularly well known and that is why I chose him for this month. I figured it would be fun to include a nice winterscape in January (sorry to anyone in the south or the S. Hemisphere who are not having winter and snow right now!)
WebMuseum - biography and gallery of sample paintings
Bruegel biography
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Mary M. in Denver
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Helen
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Thanks Mary
The winterscapes are a great idea.
I liked the WebMuseum link.
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MaryM
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 Hunters in the Snow (1565)
This painting is featured in the following art compilations for children. They have some activities to go along with a study of this particular painting. If you can get ahold of at least one of these that would be great for the study. Highly recommended.
Usborne The Children's Book of Art - pp. 12-13
Come Look with Me:Exploring Landscape with Children - pp.8-9
Discover Great Paintings (DK) - pp. 10-11
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Mary M. in Denver
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MaryM
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Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap (1565)
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MaryM
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Children's Games (1559-60)
This is an example of one of his peasant paintings.
Visit this Web Gallery of Art to view individual sections of Children's Games up close.
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Mary M. in Denver
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MaryM
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The Peasant Wedding (1567)
Another example of his peasant paintings.
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MaryM
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The Adoration of the Magi (1564)
Bruegel the Elder also painted numerous religious paintings. This one is very fitting for this month as we just recently celebrated Epiphany. Too bad I couldn't have posted the study earlier  .
This in another painting he did of the Magi visit which fits the winterscape theme. The Adoration of the Magi in the Snow
Do a comparison of these two depictions of the magi visit.
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MaryM
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I've gotten quite a few children's books on Bruegel this week. There is a lot available for this study. The one unfortunate aspect is that the time and place when he lived was rife with hostility between Protestants and Catholic and it is presented in a few of the resources with an anti-Catholic bias.
The one where I most noted this is The Fantastic Journey of Pieter Bruegel, a picture book that takes you along on his two year journey from Antwerp to Rome after he joins the Artist Guild. Lots of information and presented in a way for young children to find interesting - it's travel journal. Unfortunately there is a page that shows an anti-Catholic bias rather glaringly.
What Makes a Bruegel a Bruegel? is a part of the always informative series where a dozen paintings by the artist are studied and discussed. Nice addition to this study though do watch for the bias in the biographical section. It includes Hunters in the Snow, Children's Games, The Wedding Banquet, and Adoration of the Magi from above.
Biographies
Pieter Bruegel by Mike Venezia (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series)
Pieter Bruegel by John Malam (Tell Me About series)
Peter Bruegel's Tower of Babel: The Builder With the Red Hat looks specifically at one of his paintings, The Tower of Babel which I did not include specifcially in the study but is a fascinating painting. This book looks very carefully at various details and what we can learn from them.
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Focusing on Children's Games
Can You Find it, Too? includes this painting. It's kind of an "I Spy" book. You are asked to find specific objects in the paintings. For example in this one:
1 mask
1 wooden flute
2 red purses
2 boys on stilts
-plus many more
I have read that there are 84 identified games being played in this painting because they are still played today. There could be more that are being played that no one recognizes any longer.
See how many different games or play activities you can identify with your children.
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MaryM
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Focusing on Hunters in the Snow
I mentioned several books above which include this painting and have great questions and finding objects activites that go along.
Another book I recently found is Look! Zoom in on Art. It includes things to look for as well like:
-four churches in the distance
-a bridge crossing the winding river
-an old woman with a load of twigs on her back
Something I learned in my reading about this scene is that it set in the Low Countries but he adds the craggy mountains in the background which are not there in reality. They are from his travels through the Alps.
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Oh, I just love this painter. Thank you!
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MaryM
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I also found some poetry that was written about Hunter in the Snow. I have seen it recomendated to have children do a written or oral narration of a painting, but I like the idea of writing a poem as well.
Another interesting aspect of the Hunters in the Snow painting is the sign hanging above the inn. Here is a close-up of that part of the scene to view the details. The inn sign is a picture of St. Hubert with the stag.
St Hubert is a patron of hunters. The Netherlands/Belgium is the area where he is from.
As a young man, Hubert is said to have been a passionate lover of hunting. One Good Friday when everybody else was going to church, he chose to stalk deer. He came upon one in a clearing, and was ready to shoot when the stag turned. To Hubert's amazement, a crucifix shone out from between its antlers. From the stag a voice spoke forth, "Unless you turn to the Lord, Hubert, you shall fall into Hell." Dropping to his knees, the hunter asked what he must do to be saved. "Seek out Bishop Lambert of Maastricht," came the reply, "and he will tell you." That was how the two saintly bishops first happened to meet.
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Can You Hear It? includes the Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap and the go along music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Winter (Allegro)
This is a very clever book from the Metropolitan Museum of Art series we have enjoyed. It contains copies of 12 paintings and recommednation for a piece of music that goes with it conceptually. It includes a CD that contains the musical pieces so you can listen to the piece while studying the painting. There are questions that lead you to listen for specific parts of the music and explains how different instruments are used to create a sound picture. This is a great book for both art and music study. 
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Oh thank you Mary! This was so well done. This is just excellent.
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MaryM wrote:
I also found some poetry that was written about Hunter in the Snow. I have seen it recomendated to have children do a written or oral narration of a painting, but I like the idea of writing a poem as well.
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We did a fantabulous activity several years ago from BraveWriter. You may still be able to find it on their website. It will take a few hours and I let my older children join in--they really enjoyed it.
Basically what you do is give each child a whole stack of magazines and let them find and cut out words that they love saying or looking at. It could be for the sound or the look of them (this means even those who aren't reading can join this activity). So you end up with a whole pile of cool words like juicy, misty, zesty, etc. and a lot of nouns, verbs, and pronouns as well.
Then you pick a painting; we picked a painting of a ship at war (can't remember the name right now). Obviously for this unit you want to pick a Bruegel, and you form your poem completely from the words in the pile. We sorted them out and added a couple of words not in our stack but our poem turned out really well!!
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4Real Forums : The Arts in the Everyday
Topic: January Artist Study - Bruegel the Elder
