Product Description
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525/30–1569) was a remarkable draftsman and designer of prints as well as a great painter.His independent drawings and designs for engravings and etchings, which were carried out by the leading printmakers of his day, have fascinated scholars and the general public alike since they were created. They have recently been the subject of research that has given rise to a reevaluation of the parameters of Bruegel's oeuvre.The new scholarship has been brought to bear on the texts in the present volume. An international group of experts presents essays on the artist's life, his contributions as a draftsman and as a printmaker, his iconography and social and political context, and the posthumous survival of his art. The authors also illuminate Bruegel's genius in discussions of individual prints and drawings. Each of these works is illustrated and many comparative illustrations are also included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A "Must Have" book for lovers of prints
This is a "must have" book for lovers of prints. Everything about this volume is magnificent- the scholarly text, the choice of reproductions, the printing and layout. The reproductions are large enough that the reader can see the cross contour lines and crosshatching. This book does justice to one of the greatest artists in the history of art. It does NOT cover Bruegel's paintings of daily peasant life but rather his prolific output of outstanding landscape and fantasy drawings which were engraved and etched by others under his direction and oversight. Bruegel's visual stories are diverse and his imagination runs riot!

wonderful book of illustrations.
This is an excellent book of illustrations. The text is good also, but the quality and format of this book is great for studying Bruegel.

A special feature
... A special feature of this book is that many of the drawings and engravings are on facing pages, or else on the same page so that they may be compared. As the engravings were done by others, the chance to make comparisons is delightful. The drawings have a warm light brownish tint from both the ink and paper and the engravings are black and white. There are days and hours of visual interest here.
... The text is informative; both scholarly and readable. The main catalogue has a huge 16 page bibliography (3 columns per page) and an index. The first 84 pages contain 5 chapters, by different authors on aspects of his work. Detailed information on provenances, literature and sizes are also provided. there are 274 illustrations.
... Also quality paper has been used in the book; highly recommended for the 'Pieter Bruegel the elder' lover.

Un artiste pour toutes les saisons, surtout l'hiver
L'artiste est un grand maitre lorsque ses oeuvres sont impactants, d'un gout eternel. En fait, le Paysage d'hiver de Pieter Bruegel pere se trouve entre les oeuvres d'art les plus copies et imites du monde. La plupart des quarantaines de ses peintures survivantes datent de la derniere decade de sa vie. Il est le peintre incomparable de la comedie humaine, dans l'Ane a l'ecole; des paysages flamands au style italien, dans Paysage emboise avec une vue lointaine; des paysans, dans Kermis du St George; et des proverbes, dans Des grands poissons mangent des petits poissons. Il honore les manuscrits enlumines et les miniatures, dans la Tour de Babel. Ses dessins destines aux gravures sont des chefs-d'oeuvres de details, grains, nuances et textures.

A WORK TO BE SAVORED AND TREASURED
Arguably the greatest Netherlands painter and draftsman of the 16th century, Pieter Bruegel was a well traveled artist.Documentation shows that between 1515 and 1553 he made an enviable journey through France and then to Italy.While in Rome he worked with a miniaturist, and was inspired by the Alps that he saw during his return to Antwerp.

A quiet man he was, nonetheless, given to pranks of a slightly frightening nature, very often surprising his students.What comes as a surprise to many todayis the recent scholarship which sheds light on not only his life but his work as a draftsman and printmaker, extending to the social and political ramifications of his creations.

This magnificent volume is the catalogue for an important exhibit of more than 140 Bruegel prints and drawings.Included are scholarly essays as well as comparative illustrations.It is a valuable contribution to the annals of art history.For laymen it is a work to be savored and treasured.

- Gail Cooke ... Read more

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120 illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Too few details, often poor reproductions
I bought this on the basis of a review that praised it for its excellent array of details, but that reviewer was clearly not looking at the same book: the volume sold on this page contains no details of "Children's Games" and very few details of other paintings; the quality of the color plates is generally quite poor. I wish I could find the book that person reviewed; I'll be returning this one!

Lord of the paints
Some said that PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER, who started as a landscape painter, swallowed and then spat the Alps onto canvases and panels calling up Italian mountainous landscape masters Giulio Campagnola and Titian. In fact, he played out about 80 real "Children's games" in the Italian city view style of Piero della Francesca and of the woodcut-illustrated works of SebastianoSerlio. But earlier Netherlandish school influences were in Flemish landscape painter Joachim Patinir-type bird's-eye detailed never-never land mapping of "Landscape with Christ appearing to the apostles at the sea of Tiberias," "The flight into Egypt," and "The parable of the sower"; and later in Herri met de Bles-type "Procession of Calvary," as his largest picture, "Sermon of St John the Baptist," and "Suicide of Saul" in all its Albrecht Altdorfer-type impressionistic brilliance, as forerunners along with the brilliantly yellow "Harvesters" and the three "Haymaking" women to Peter Paul Rubens. "The adoration of the kings," as his first large-figure and only upright-formatted picture, was one of two Italian-influenced paintings, with altarpiece-type proportions, Masaccio-type Moor, late Quattrocento-type bending and kneeling kings, and Michelangelo-type upper body for the Christ Child against balanced interweaving of strong and subdued reds, pink, green, dun, chamois, and black. The other was the one work that he kept with him until death, his small picture of Christ with Raphael-type pivotally placed adulteress, as one of his most copied paintings along with "Winter landscape with a bird trap," in a mature, rare grisaille with brown touchings and gray shades, and with his favorite theme of humility and tolerance. His only mythological "Landscape with the fall of Icarus" had its ploughman doing business as usual, thereby acting out the German proverb of no plough stopping for the sake of a dying man. Elsewhere, subtly color-schemed figures and spaces pioneered applying Hugo van der Goes-type stupid staring to bug-eyed, senselessly frenzied human automatons in "Parable of the blind" and bringing together in one artwork about 100 "Proverbs." He foreran Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Rembrandt in daringly artificial light effects for great spiritual depth with the brightly illuminated head of St John the Evangelist asleep and the supernaturally lighted Virgin Mary dying uncustomarily surrounded by patriarchs, martyrs, holy virgins, and confessors. The later bareboned getting across attitudes and moods by key body language, as in "The big fish eating the little fish," and by untraditional symbols, as in gluttonously round bulks of bellies and trees in "The land of Cockaigne," took the place of his earliest image- and motif-crowded works, as in the Botticelli-type Calumny with the King and his advisors, Ignorance and Suspicion, for his print series on "Vices" and in the Hieronymus Bosch-type grotesque animal and human combinations of fantasies running wild, with the "Christ in limbo" and "Last judgment" drawings and with the many-hued, -shaded, -textured, and -tinted "Fall of the rebel angels," "Mad Meg," and "Triumph of death" paintings. Throughout, his art drew on a mastery of color, from the wintry crisp, subdued black, brown, gray and white "Hunters in the snow" to the delicately dun, gray, mauve and subdued green "Misanthrope" and the pointillistically fresh-leafed "Landscape with the magpie on the gallows." So author Wolfgang Stechow leaves readers on good terms with the 16th-century Flemish artist's hugely productive career and scantily documented life. His clearly written and helpfully illustrated book works well with HIERONYMUS BOSCH by Jos Koldeweij et al, SEBASTIANO SERLIO ON ARCHITECTURE, SERLIO ON DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, and ALBRECHT ALTDORFER AND THE ORIGINS OF LANDSCAPE by Christopher S Wood.

God is in the Details
I got this book two or three years ago in an Italian-language edition.I can't read Italian, so I can't comment on the quality of the text, but I can say that any Bruegel fan will be very happy to have this book, with or without readable words.

The trouble with most Bruegel books is that they show tiny reproductions of the paintings, necessarily much reduced in size, and, if you're lucky, show a detail or two of each picture.Yet more than any other painter I know of, the pleasure of Bruegel is in the mass of figures.There is no point at all in looking at a painting like the "Children's Games" if you can't spend a good long time looking at all the different figures, enjoying their games and funny poses, and marvelling that the artist could paint them all with such confidence, in translucent paint and with such a sure touch that it looks as if he never rubbed anything out in his whole career.

That's why this book is such a joy: there are ten full-page details of the "Children's Games", on good big pages and in very accurate color.There are ten full-page details of the "Carnival and Lent" picture, and six of the "Suicide of Saul", which is such a small picture to begin with that the details in this book are mostly larger than actual size.

The selections in this book, as the title says, are limited to the pictures in the Vienna museum.This is not as bad a limitation as it might sound, since the majority of Bruegels in the world are probably in this museum.The larger of the two Tower of Babel paintings is here (the one with Nimrod in the foreground), and so are the "Conversion of St. Paul", some of the most famous landscapes, and the splendid "Road to Calvary", with the wonderful classical Mary surrounded by horrible fairground types. All of the pictures are shown with no fewer than four detail pages.

Limiting the book to the Vienna museum does mean that some favorites are left out, though.The Fall of the Rebel Angels, The Triumph of Death, and the smaller, redder Tower of Babel are not in this book.It's still a wonderful volume.

The World On Wood
Pieter Bruegel The Elder must have been a very interesting fellow. I would have liked to have known him. This lovely book lets you enter the strange world of Bruegel, overflowing with the reality of the 16th centuryNetherlands mixed (in the same painting) with biblical and classicalscenes! To the modern eye and mind these are very disconcertingcombinations! You have the Tower Of Babel being constructed next to awaterway which contains European sailing ships, while off in the distanceyou can see the houses of Antwerp. You have Icarus falling into the seawhile a 16th century farmer walks by with his ox and while another manfishes nearby, both seemingly oblivious to the fate of the poor man.Bruegel's paintings, most of which were done on wood panel, are full ofmany different people doing many different things. You get a sense ofhustle and bustle and life. Oftimes the people are odd-looking and havestrange physiques. Children are indistinguishable from adults. Visual punsabound. Men at a wedding dance have outrageously bulging codpieces; barebuttocks are sometimes visible through windows. Other paintings containmoral lessons and are full of horrible demons or skeletons rampagingthrough the countryside like some awful supernatural army, raping andmurdering. Still other paintings are of idyllic scenes, such as maidenswalking through the countryside at harvest time or children playing gameson the ice during winter. Bruegel was a master of color and the harvestscenes glow with golden yellow and the winter scenes chill you with whitesand subtle greys and leaden skies. Taschen has done it again with anotherfine book with excellent commentary and high quality reproductions. Thepaintings of Bruegel are full of humor and horror and beauty and uglinessand sometimes so much is going on you can't digest it all at one time. Thepaintings of Bruegel are full of life. ... Read more

Product Description
The paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder offer a glimpse into the world of the 16th-century Netherlands, a world of peasants and berghers, of civic and religious life. How did viewers in Bruegel’s own day look at his art? In order to offer 21st-century eyes something of the experience of a 16th-century viewer, this book takes an in-depth look at a single painting by the great Flemish artist, his Netherlandish Proverbs of 1559.

Bruegel’s painting is a collection of over 100 proverbs, each acted out in a single-minded manner by peasants, berghers, monks, inn-keepers, and others. In order to understand what a viewer of the time might have perceived when viewing this image, this book begins by looking closely at Bruegel’s composition. From this starting point, the author offers insights into how proverbs were used and understood in the 16th century and into period models for organizaing collections. Lastly, the author turns to discussions of Bruegel by his contemporaries, and the instights these give us into the viewing of this and other of his paintings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Netherlandish Art at its finest
I've read numerous books on the subject of Netherlandish art and let me say, this sir is the finest.Meadow, uhm, draws the reader in through enthralling story lines along with some of the most poignant art criticism this critic has ever read.I never thought I could be brought to tears by Netherlandish art, but by the time I put this page-turner down I was crying like someone looking at a Duccio. ... Read more

Product Description
Great exhibition catalog, nicely illustrated, featuring the printing arts of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Northern Renaissance artist. 65 mostly black and white illustrations of prints - engravings, woodcuts, and etchings. Landscapes, farmers, religious scenes, genre scenes, parables. Bibliography.Softcover. 112 pages. Measures 9 1/2 by 12 inches. Interesting book / exhibit catalog, nicely illustrated. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Adriaen Isenbrandt, Lucas Horenbout, Jan Mabuse, Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, Justus Van Gent, Antwerp School, Jan Wellens de Cock, Denis Calvaert, Pieter Van Aelst, Caterina Van Hemessen, Brunswick Monogrammist, Jan Van Scorel, Frans Floris, Quentin Metsys the Younger, Joos Van Cleve, Jan Joest, Antwerp Mannerism, Francisco Henriques, Mayken Verhulst, Martin Van Cleve, Hendrick Van Den Broeck, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, Pieter Pourbus, Valerio Profondavalle, Frans Pourbus the Elder. Excerpt:One of many versions of the Rest during the Flight to Egypt attributed to Isenbrandt. Alte Pinakothek , Munich; Wood, 49,4 × 34 cm Adriaen Isenbrandt or Adrien, Isenbrant, Ysenbrant, Ysenbrandt or Hysebrant (between 1480 and 1490 Bruges , July 1551), was a Flemish Northern Renaissance painter, who from documentary evidence was clearly a significant artist of his period, but to whom no specific works can be clearly documented. As hypothesised by art historians , he ran a large workshop specializing in religious subjects and devotional paintings, painting conservatively in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting . He is believed by some to be the anonymous Master of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin . Other art historians doubt that any works can be reliably attributed to him, and the number of paintings attributed to him by major museums has been in decline for many decades. Personal life There are only a few documentary records of his life, and some mentions in literature from his lifetime or soon after, but he cannot be documented as the creator of any surviving work; everything else consists of hypothesis. It is possible that he was born in Haarlem or even in Antwerp about 1490. It is not known where or with which painter he served ... ... Read more

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Chapters: Jan Van Eyck, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Hubert Van Eyck, Quentin Matsys, Frans Hals, Gerard David, Ambrosius Bosschaert, Karel Van Mander, Bernard Van Orley, Guild of Saint Luke, Peter Tillemans, John de Critz, Early Netherlandish Painting, Rogier Van Der Weyden, Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, Adriaen Isenbrandt, Hans Memling, Valois Tapestries, Lucas Horenbout, Simon Marmion, Petrus Christus, Jan Mabuse, Hans Eworth, List of Flemish Painters, William Scrots, Hugo Heyrman, Pieter Franciscus Dierckx, Paul Van Somer I, Francken, Steven Van Der Meulen, Art of the Low Countries, Levina Teerlinc, Hugo Van Der Goes, Juan de Flandes, Master of James Iv of Scotland, Jean Hey, Antwerp School, Jan Wellens de Cock, Jean Clouet, Michiel Coxie, Jan Lievens, Pieter Van Aelst, Hieronymus Cock, Master of Anthony of Burgundy, Jean-Baptiste Van Mour, Adriaen Brouwer, Jef Van Campen, Caterina Van Hemessen, Jacob de Backer, Willem Key, Flemish Painting, Jacques Daret, Herregouts, Joris Hoefnagel, Gerard Edelinck, Paul and Mattheus Brill, Giusto Utens, Stradanus, Pedro Campaña, Gillis Van Coninxloo, Frans Floris, Guild of Romanists, David Vinckboons, Bartholomeus Spranger, Nicolas Régnier, Joos Van Cleve, Jan Joost Van Cossiau, Jacob Van Utrecht, Jan Provoost, Jan Sanders Van Hemessen, Simon Bening, Master of the Embroidered Foliage, Jan Mertens the Younger, Hans Bol, Herri Met de Bles, Paul Lauters, Marten de Vos, Louis de Deyster, Bertholet Flemalle, Livio Mehus, Jacob Hoefnagel, Crispin Van Den Broeck, Aelbrecht Bouts, Master of the Llangattock Hours, Master of the Lübeck Bible, Denis Van Alsloot, Master of 1518, Arnold Bronckorst, Lucas de Heere, Nicolas Neufchatel, David Ryckaert Iii, Baldassare D'anna, Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy, Victor Honoré Janssens, Peter Van Bloemen, Frans Ykens, Master of the Legend of St. Ursula, Master of 1499, Johanna Vergouwen, Lucas Van Valckenborch, Joachim Beuckel...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=854407 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Art is art
The book has the history of a Flemish Artistwho shows insights into 16th century society but our lives now. This book is about travels the artist made all over Europe in a language that was easy to comprehend. I read it cover to cover. It is perfect for people who have an acquired taste for art.

an awful book
I'll start with the good things about the book: the color plates of Bruegel's major works, the bibliography, and the information on where each of the paintings is.The book is also quite readable, and I finished it, although upon doing so I immediately sold it to a used bookstore, as I would have felt embarrassed to have it in my house.The book's main problem is that it has nothing to say and describes each of the paintings with utterly vacuous gibberish. One painting reveals the "moral complexity that is at the heart of our civilization" and "points us toward the future much as it captures the essence of our past."Another "shows an extraordinary grasp of the soul of a culture, indeed the essence of our social life."The book appears not to have been professionally edited, and I would have guessed that it was self-published, except that I saw it for sale in Borders.It puts numerous words in unnecessary quotation marks, which is a sure sign of amateurishness.It starts quotations with ellipses, which is never appropriate, and, at one point, if I recall, it has, in the middle of a quotation, ". . . [and] . . . ," which makes no sense.You will learn nothing about Bruegel from this book, other than what his major paintings look like and where they are.

A seminal excursion into the timeless testimony of classical art.
Written by City University of New York professor Robert L. Bonn, Painting Life: The Art of Pieter Bruegel, The Elder is an extraordinary tour through the visual and social landscapes in thirty-six major paintings by Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel, The Elder (1520/25-1569). Plates of the paintings themselves illustrate Painting Life in glorious full color, while chapters discuss Bruegel's genius in capturing the qualities of human life from work to play, foolishness, and conflict; expressions of Bruegel's anthropology and social philosophy in his creations; and stories of the influential cities where Bruegel's paintings hang today: Madrid, Vienna, Antwerp and Brussels, Rome and Naples, San Diego, Prague, and New York City. A seminal excursion into the timeless testimony of classical art. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Renaissance Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1405 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. .(Book Review)
Author: Jeffrey Chipps Smith
Publication: Renaissance Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2003
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 56Issue: 2Page: 518(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Myles Coverdale, Edmund Bonner, William Honnyng, Catherine, Lady Knollys, François de Coligny D'andelot, Philip Ii, Metropolitan of Moscow, Gilbert Bourne, Janet Beaton, António Ferreira, Aben Humeya, Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, Mikołaj Rej, Gracia Mendes Nasi, John of Avila, Louis, Prince of Condé, Ogasawara Ujioki, Hoste Da Reggio, Mahinthrathirat, Richard Tracy, Richard Brooke, Maria Temryukovna, Juan de Guzmán, Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, Vladimir of Staritsa, Bernardo Tasso, Florimond Iii Robertet D'alluye, Daniel Rantzau, Sixtus of Siena, Giacomo Nacchiante, John Man, Dirk Willems, Ivan Lenković, Irobe Katsunaga, Georg Pictorius, Mikołaj Sieniawski, Paul Eber, Ludovica Torelli, Vidus Vidius, Kempe Gowda I, Cristoforo Rosa, Diego de Losada, Joachim Westphal, Niccolò Massa. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Edmund Bonner (also Edmund Boner) (c. 1500 5 September 1569), Bishop of London, was an English bishop. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonized by the Protestant reforms introduced by Somerset and reconciled himself to Roman Catholicism. He became notorious as Bloody Bonner for his role in the persecution of heretics under the Catholic government of Mary I of England, and ended his life as a prisoner under Queen Elizabeth. He was the son of Elizabeth Frodsham, who was married to Edmund Bonner, a sawyer of Hanley in Worcestershire. John Strype (Eccles. Mem. III. i.17 2-173) printed an account, with many circumstantial details, stating that Bonner was the natural son of George Savage, rector of Davenham, Cheshire, and that his mother married Bonner only after the future bishop's birth. This account was disputed by Strype's contemporary, Sir Edmund Lechmere, w...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=153749 ... Read more