Art of the world tells a specific story of the artist and the time the artist lived in. Each individual artist creats their works of art in a specific way. They use specific paint, canvases and get inspired from different people or elemts around them. Pieter Brueghel II was an artist in the 1500’s to 1600’s. Pieter Brueghel II was known as Pieter Bruegel the Younger since he has a father known as Pieter Brueghel the Elder. His work, Pieter Brueghel the Younger is known for peasent paintings and paintings of landscaping. The artwork Pieter the Younger has stayed on throughout the centuries and is still admired today. Preparing the Flowerbeds, from “ The Seasons” is one of Pieters work that is still featured today in the Loeb Art Center at Vassar College.
Pieter Brueghel II was a Dutch artist who was born in the year of 1564. Pieter Brueghel the younger was son to Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Pieter was born into an area at the time that was called Flemish. Flemish was one of three regions on the Kingdom of Belgium many years ago. The area where Pieter Brueghel was born can be considered modern day Belgium or the Netherlands. It is speculated that Pieter was born in Brussels, Belgium. When Pieter was born in the year of 1564 there was much change in Western Europe at this time. Martin Luther and his ideas were spreading throughout Western Europe and was changing the minds of many people. This became the start of the Protestant Reformation and that meant the destruction of art. His work helped spread the ideas and imagery of his father. This time in the Netherlands area was seen as their golden age. Textile companies became very popular throughout Europe and then as the time has passed the companies decided to move elsewhere. By the 1560’s and later textile and cloth were in the Netherlands and many people
went into the cities go get these goods. Although later on the demands for this in Europe became less and less that did not happen in the Netherlands. The English still found a place for it in the Netherlands because of the fact that the people still had a market for the goods. In Antwarp where Pieter and his sibilings moved to became a big market for spices. Antwarp was also a place for the Germans to bring their metal goods. During this time the perople revolted again Spanish rule and that damaged the economy to a great deal. This time was also an important start for trade in the country. Since the land is near the ocean the fishing trade boomed for the Netherlands. Pieters had sibilings and one of his sibilings was a brother. His brothers, Jan Brueghel was also a painter and his brother was known for his floral paintings. After the death of both his parents, pieter and his brothers and sisters moved. Pieter and his sibilings moved to Antwarp in the year of 1578 to live with their grandmother, luckily Antwarp was not a far journey for the family to travel to. Antwarp is a small town that is in modern day northern Belgium. In the time where Pieter lived Antwarp the area was referred to as Flemish. Antwarp borders the Netherlands and is a town near the ocean. Antwarp is seen as a desireable destination or living ares because of this. This area is also seen as a good destination to travel to because of the fact they the country boarders another. This is seen as an easy and fast way to travel.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger was an artist known for painting landscapes, religious subjects, genre paintings, and village scenes. Pieters work is greatly influenced by his fathers work and because of this their art is very similar. Another thing that Pieter Brueghel the Younger was known for was re creating his father
artwork or creating pieces of art that very closely resemble his fathers art style. Once Pieter and his family moved to Antwarp he became a student of Gills van Coninxloo. Gills van Conixloo was a flemish artist who painted many landscape paintings. He is seen as being an important influencer of northern landscape art in the seventeenth century. His work was often of forest and landscapes with thin trees. After this Pieter Brueghel the Younger found a wife, Elisabeth Goddelet. When Pieter lived in Antwarp with his wife and seven children he opened an art studio. Sadly most of his children did not survive and died in their younger years of life. His studio in Antwarp was where Pieter created mant of his fathers paintings and sold them for a cheap price. In his studio he had at one point nine pupils creating works of art. Frans Snyder and Andries Daniels were two of his students that learned from Pieter Brueghel. Later on Pieter Brueghel and his workshop worked on one of his fathers paintings that became very popular. Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap was the piece that his workshop created many times an there are four signed in existance today.One of Pieters most famous works, besides Sring, was called The Village Lawyer. The Village Lawyer was about the collection of taxes and peasents. In the painting the peasents were there to bring the lawyer gifts along the lines of chickens, rice, and bread.
One of Pieter Brueghel the Youngers paintings that was an original of his was called Preparing the Flowerbeds, from “ The Seasons” . Preparing the Flowerbeds, from “The Seasons” is an art piece that Pieter Brueghel the Younger created in 1620, only 18 years before his death. Preparing the flower beds from, “The Seasons” was an artwork that is only one of four paintings. The four paintings represent the four
seasons, Summer, Fall, Spring and Winter. The painting Pieter Brueghel the Younger created is called Preparing the flower beds from, “The Seasons”. The painting shows peasents working in a village planting flowers. It is said that the peasent workers are working based on a medieval books of hours. A few peasents are seen planting flowers, a few are seen working on a certain type of tree, a fig tree has been suggested by art historians, and in the distance there is seen to be a group of peasents dancing in the background. The many colors and clothing of the peasents in the painting also show a resemblence of the spring season. Their sleeves are rolled up but they have long pants on, most likely for the practicality of their labor. The painting has greens, reds, whites, and tan colors. Those are the most common colors seen in the photo and since tha sky is grey there are no bright spring colors associated. The dancing in the backgroud shows that there was interest later on in benign and nostalgic paintings of the bygone era. There are ten copies of this painting known to be in existance of just this painting that Pieter created. This art work that eas created by Pieter Brueghel the Younger was created from oil painting on panel.
The artwork of Pieter Brueghel the Younger is still admired today by many art lovers and art historians. Although many of Pieters work was based on his father, he did have some work of his own. A smart and well artist is always a good base and learning tool for an artist. Their environment and the people around them are a perfect way to inspire an artist and to help them grow. Artwork will never be undesireable and will always be admired by the public for their work.