Pieter Bruegel Muzhitsky: Why a famous artist refused orders and dressed like a poor man

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Pieter Bruegel the Elder is one of the most famous Dutch (Flemish) painters. In his paintings, the Flemish school is skillfully combined, in particular, the influence of the work of Hieronymus Bosch is very noticeable, and the Italian school. At one time, Bruegel was extremely successful, one order came to him after another, there was no end to the clients. However, the artist had his own principles: firstly, he never painted portraits to order, and secondly, he dressed as if he had no money and never had.

Most of all, Pieter Bruegel the Elder is known for his canvases dedicated to nature and rural life. While most artists of that time focused in their work on depicting scenes of the lives of saints or portraits of royalty or nobility, Bruegel painted ordinary peasants, which, of course, caused a stir in society, which later transformed into recognition and glory.

When the artist was only 26 years old, he ended up in Antwerp, where he became a student of the court painter of Emperor Charles V. Of course, in the course of his studies he learned to paint portraits, but perhaps this is precisely why there were too many of them in the course of his studies, later Bruegel flatly refused to draw them. For artists of that time, portraits were often the basis of a living, but Bruegel preferred to paint what really fascinated him. So, once discovering the paintings of Bosch, Bruegel was so impressed by them that he immediately created a series of works, one way or another echoing the works of the great master.

Later, Bruegel went on a trip to Europe to see firsthand the works of Italian masters. Traveling through the Alps also greatly influenced the artist - after the completely flat terrain of the Netherlands and Belgium, such a landscape became akin to discovery for Bruegel. And the very impressions of the ancient monuments of Rome and the masterpieces of the Renaissance also clearly left their mark on the work of the Dutchman.

Interestingly, the name of Pieter Bruegel is often assigned "Elder," so as not to confuse him with his own son, Pieter Bruegel the Younger. However, you can often see another formulation - Pieter Bruegel Muzhitsky. Bruegel received this nickname after his death, partly because in his paintings he focused on the life of ordinary peasants ("peasant life"), but partly also because during his lifetime the artist deliberately wore very simple clothes, often even deliberately poor.

Bruegel had no shortage of money, and his status in society was quite high, but there is a lot of evidence that the artist often wore shabby, simple clothes in order to "blend in with the crowd and not stand out," thus attending peasant holidays and even weddings. Thus, Bruegel managed to depict quite accurately the various details of peasant life.

Bruegel's last years were spent in terror: the Spanish Duke of Alba entered Brussels with an army with an order to destroy the heretics. The only evidence for the prosecution was rumors and denunciations, several thousand Dutchmen were sentenced to death. Fearing that his work would not harm the family (Bruegel was married and had three children, two of whom later also became artists), the Dutchman wanted his most "controversial" paintings to be burned after his death. Some of his works at that time were lost irretrievably, others were discovered a considerable time later. Most of Bruegel's paintings are now in Vienna, in the Museum of Art History.

The painting "Flemish Proverbs" contains allegories of more than a hundred proverbs known at that time. Many of them are still used today, which is why it is so interesting to consider the details of this canvas. You can see some of the "encrypted" messages of this work in our article " The secret meaning of the painting by Peter Bruegel."