Bruegel : Peasants, Proverbs and Landscapes

Excellent online course from Paula Nuttall on the work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Over the course of three two-hour sessions Paula took us through the three main themes of Bruegel’s work and in doing so looked at what little we know of his life and at his legacy.

Week one we looked at how he was influenced by Hieronymus Bosch, the subject of a previous course by Paula, taking up similar surreal themes and images. He was described by a contemporary as “a second Bosch”. We looked both at his drawings which were used for prints and paintings.

Week two was on his peasant pictures discussing how he built proverbs into these and how his style in these works changed drastically over the course of a decade. We looked in some detail at the wonderful "Netherlandish Proverbs" picture unpicking some of the imagery. Paula made interesting analogies between “The Peasant Wedding” and a “Wedding at Canaan” by Tintoretto and discussed how he may have been influenced between Italian art which I’d never considered.

Finally week three was on landscapes with a concentration on the series of five, originally six, pictures in the series “The Seasons” going through each in detail. She then talked about whether some of his works such at “The Census at Bethlehem” might be a comment on the politics of the times.

As ever with Paula’s courses and an enjoyable and learned overview leaving you with lots to look up and think about.

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