Bruegel in Black and White: Three Grisailles Reunited

Interesting exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery which brought together the three existing grisaille paintings by Brueghel the Elder.

Grisaille is the art of painting in shades of grey and Brueghel was the first artist to produce standalone works in this format. The three pictures are “Death of the Virgin”, “Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery” and “Three Soldiers”.  The best section was on the Courtauld’s own picture “Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery” as it looked at the life of the picture and included the earliest print version of it and a coloured version by Brueghel's son. The original pictures was given to Borromeo on Brueghel's death but Borromeo returned it as he felt the gift was too generous bit only after he had a copy made which was also in the show.

I also loved a picture thought to be a copy of a Brueghel called “Visit to the Farm” which was a wonderful full vision of everyday life on a farm. I particularly liked the dog in the cradle!

Closes on 18 May 2016.

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