Pieter
Brueghel the Younger, the elder of two sons of Pieter
Bruegel the Elder, was only five when his father died. He was trained
by the landscape Flemish painter Gillis van Coninxloo (1544-1607) and made
his career in Antwerp, where he became a master in the Lucas Guild in 1585.
The younger Pieter painted religious subjects, fantastic compositions and
landscapes. For his fascination with hobgoblins, fires, and grotesque figures
he was nicknamed "Hell Brueghel".
Still he is best known as a copyist of his father's paintings. Being an
excellent expert in the oil and tempera techniques he made the copies of
such great class that many of them were considered the works by Pieter
the Elder. Thus, one of the four known copies of the Massacre of
the Innocents, the one in Vienna, was only in 1982 attributed to
Pieter the Younger. The painting Summer
was executed from the drawing for engraving by Peter the Elder Summer
(1568). There is another variant of the picture in Coster Gallery in London.
Winter
Landscape is considered the most successful copy among the
multiple copies if this painting is by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
In his own canvases, such as Village Fair and The Crucifixion,
he shows a firm grasp of space and movement. His son, Pieter Brueghel III
(1589-?1640), was also known primarily as a copyist.
Bibliography:
Painting of Western Europe. XVII century. by E. Rotenberg. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1989.