Pieter Brueghel the Younger Biography

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.

  • Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Summer.
    Summer.

    Oil on panel. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary.

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