Pieter Bruegel the Elder

c. 1527 – 9 September 1569

Pieter Bruegel the Elder was the most significant painter of the sixteenth-century Netherlandish Renaissance, renowned for his landscapes and scenes of peasant life. Working in Antwerp and Brussels, he produced masterpieces such as Hunters in the Snow, The Tower of Babel, and The Peasant Wedding. He founded a dynasty of painters that continued for several generations.

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Lived at the same time

Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Life events

Born in the Duchy of Brabant
c. 1527

Pieter Bruegel was born around 1525-1530, possibly near Breda in the Duchy of Brabant; his exact birthplace and date are undocumented.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Trained under Pieter Coecke van Aelst
c. 1545

According to the biographer Karel van Mander, Bruegel was apprenticed to the leading Antwerp artist Pieter Coecke van Aelst, whose daughter he later married.

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Became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke
1551

Bruegel was admitted as a free master into Antwerp's painters' guild, the first firmly documented event of his career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Traveled to Italy
1552 – c. 1554

Bruegel journeyed through France to Italy, reaching as far south as Sicily and returning through the Alps, whose scenery shaped his landscape art.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Designed prints for publisher Hieronymus Cock
c. 1555

Back in Antwerp, Bruegel produced designs for engravings issued by Hieronymus Cock's print house At the Sign of the Four Winds, including series in the manner of Bosch.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Mayken Coecke and moved to Brussels
1563

Bruegel married Mayken, daughter of his former master Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Mayken Verhulst, and settled in Brussels.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Painted the Months series, including Hunters in the Snow
1565

For the Antwerp collector Niclaes Jonghelinck, Bruegel painted a cycle of the seasons whose surviving panels include Hunters in the Snow and The Harvesters.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Painted late peasant masterpieces
c. 1567 – c. 1568

In his final years Bruegel produced celebrated peasant scenes such as The Peasant Wedding and The Peasant Dance, now in Vienna.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Brussels
9 September 1569

Bruegel died on 9 September 1569 and was buried in the church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle in Brussels.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓