Pieter Bruegel the Elder and winter landscapes | The Invention of the White Christmas
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มิ.ย. 2024
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s winter landscapes were the first snowscapes depicted in European art. In Hunters in the Snow, there are figures skating on frozen rivers, playing early versions of ice hockey and some people even trying to catch birds. They seem to be making the most of the freezing weather and having a lot of fun - but that might not be the whole picture. For the artist and the ordinary people in Bruegel’s works, these images weren’t just about having an enjoyable winter, this cold weather would have been scary and threatening to their very existence.
When these paintings were made, Europe was living through a period of intense climate change now known as the “Little Ice Age.” The term was first used in 1939 to describe a period of 4 thousand years, but it’s since been narrowed down to identify a period of intense cooling between roughly 1400 and 1850. Within this timeframe, many say the 1560s was the first decade of extreme weather, and the winter of 1564-65 is said to be the coldest winter of the century. Hunters in the Snow and Bruegel’s other famous snow scenes-including “Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap” and “The Census at Bethlehem” were all painted around that freezing winter. The theologian Johannes Molanus recorded that winter as being “harsh beyond measure”.
During the 1560s, food shortages were almost yearly and there were riots and illness throughout Europe. Because most people were still extremely religious, many thought the destruction of their crops or the death of their children were punishments from God - and some blamed witchcraft for their terrible luck. Over 30 years later, King James I’s treatise on witchcraft, Demonology, mentioned the use of magic to make the weather worse. In Hunters in the Snow we can see some of this hardship. Three men and their dogs are trudging home from a hunting expedition - they’re soggy, exhausted, and hunched against the cold. Their body language gives us a really good idea of how they’re feeling both emotionally and temperature-wise.
Very little is known about Pieter Bruegel the Elder and his background. One of his biographers assumed he came from a peasant background which would justify his fascination with peasant life and why there are so many ordinary people in his work. More recent scholars believe Bruegel was “a townsman and a highly educated one” and that he would have moved in highly educated circles. Although this is likely it would seem that "he hadn’t mastered Latin", and he relied on other people to add the Latin captions to some of his drawings.
It’s thought he began his artistic training around 1545, when he was in his early twenties - and after 6 years of being an apprentice, he became a master painter and he joined the artist’s union, the guild of St Luke in Antwerp. Not long after becoming a master artist, Bruegel took a journey across Italy to study the masters of the Italian Renaissance, which was a fairly common excursion for Northern Renaissance artists.
It seems as though he wasn’t impressed by their dramatic scenes, idealised figures and their love of classical architecture. However, on his journey home, Bruegel took a route back through the alps and these incredible mountains seemed to impress him a lot more. After Bruegel’s death in 1604, the biographer, Van Mander wrote “While he visited the Alps, he had swallowed all the mountains and the cliffs, and, upon coming home, he had spit them forth upon his canvas and panels.” Whilst on the road, Bruegel did a lot of drawings and sketches which he used for later paintings and from this moment on, nature and man’s relationship with it seemed to fascinate him. This influence can be seen in Hunters in the Snow where Bruegel has painted alpine mountains in the background. The low countries are very flat so Bruegel has invented these peaks to make the composition seem more dramatic.
Main sources for this video:
- www.artsy.net/article/artsy-e...
- www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007...
- www.theguardian.com/artanddes...
Wow, thank you. I will now go and take a closer look at those paintings. Very informative video.
Really interesting, thank you☮️🇨🇦
Brilliant video, thank you
Thank you so much for such a clear and complete insight on Bruegel. I have now suscribed and expect more interesting viedos from your channel.
I love what you are doing and how you are doing it.
Thanks very much
Really good video!!! ☺️
Thank you, I was really pleased how this one turned out.
you are great
Another engaging video. I'm learning a lot.
Thanks very much!
Huge hug from Veracruz, México. Congratulations for your great work. We need much more TH-cam's channels like yours. Have you consider about adding spanish subtitles? It would be great for many latinamericans interested on art, and you will gain more subscriptions! (Believe it or not, ha ha). Cheers.
I'm leaving this here because I can't seem to leave a comment on your Richard the III video you just dropped. But holy cow was that a fantastic history lesson and story and your entire presentation was fabulous!!
You are first art historian to mention or allude the "Little Ice Age" in relation to Bruegel's painting!! I read an article about it 4-5 years ago, but heard no other mention of it. -And then (!!) the book (by the same title) came out!! So, i'm sharing this video with my art history class. Thank you very much!!
Thanks very much Mary! I was alerted to it by this article by Artsy. bit.ly/3tg4nd9
Are there any videos I could make that would be helpful for your class? It's nice to be able to make videos that can be put to good use.
Thank you for featuring Bruegel. He was the main inspiration that started my art career about 15 years ago. To this day I continue to look to him for inspiration. The way that painters 300 years before photography invented most of the elements in their paintings is so unique. Many painters who copy photographs today do not get to practice invention the way that Bruegel did.
Just looking back at your body of work AHG. Congratulations; So many interesting and informative videos.
Aww thank you! I wish I could produce more but sadly my job gets in the way.
Really enjoyed your video, you did a good job
Pieter Bruegel has always been one of my favorite 16 th century artists, his work always seem to have a lot going on and show the ordinary people
Is unfortunate that he died at a rather young age and had directed his wife to burn some of his work after he died...wonder what they were?
Thank you very much, it really means a lot when true fans comment. I did a History of Art degree but I still consider myself very much an amateur so it's great when a real fan gets in touch. Yeah, Bruegel is fascinating - I just love the humour in his paintings too, seems like an artist who had a playful side as well as more serious side. He was only about 40 wasn't he? I also find it strange his son(s) made a career out of copying his art and selling it on.
@@arthistorygirl2327 I was a history / art major in college till in my last year I dropped out, bought an old VW camper and traveled around the USA
Best thing I ever did.
Is obvious you did your research and you presented it very well. I appreciate the work you put into your videos
Nice vid, sister!:)
Never thought I would be into art I think it's the way you put things across, it's actually sticking in my head, brilliant,,
Your channel was just randomly recommend and I am so glad it was. Amazing content. Thankyou. Congrats on your first 1K subs. I’m sure your channel will grow very quickly!
Awww thank you! Yes, I’d so exciting to get 1K subs, I’m nearly eligible to become a TH-cam partner. Glad you’re enjoying the channel, let me know if you have ideas for videos you’d want to see
Love the end "titles" and the music. Perhaps consider putting it at the beginning as well, so we are all primed for your discussion and insights.
Thanks very much! That's a great idea.. I'll have a think because it would work best with a graphic at the front too. Hope all is well with you!
A bit of climate history right off the bat! Love it lol that's a big part of my program at school :) Love the way that the landscape always finds a way to be truly monumental in each piece, I'd like to think Bruegel would've loved to travel the world if he'd had the chance. I think he would've loved Canada!
The graph you showed is our famous hockey stick curve aha, an excellent example of the modern global temperature crisis!
You mean the infamous hockey stick graph and its fraud creator Micheal Mann.
He wouldn't show his data in court and had to pay restitutions that Micheal Mann. Lol.
@@andrewlove3686 I'm interested which data you're talking about? The 98/99 papers or the updated 08 dataset?
Also a source for him ever paying restitutions? You may be thinking of the wrong Michael Mann
Ooo interesting! Yes, I knew people skated on rivers etc in the 19th century but I didn't realise there'd been a mini ice-age until I started making this video. It's so fun when topic interconnect. I keep watching a TH-camr in Canada and you have amazing snow in some parts - I'm v jel, it only snows for like a day with us and then goes grey/yellow.
Wonderful presentation! A compelling review of a master piece. Thank you.
Hey Georgina, I watched your Sutton Hoo video because of The Dig and now I'm watching your other videos. You're super cool and a good explainer :) Do you like Outsider Art or Art Brut? I have books about Henry Darger that I really like. Do you like Pre Raphaelite art? I have books and prints by the Brotherhood that I really enjoy. I would love to hear your explanation of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood but it might be too big of a subject to cover in a short video. Hopefully you'll consider it.
Thank you very much! I actually know very little about Art Brut so I'll have to do some research - would you recommend I look at Henry Darger first? Aww that's interesting you say about the Pre Raphaelites because my dad actually asked me to make a video about them - he says he can never remember why they're called that. I also love the arts and crafts movement so it's definitely a video I'll make soon. Definitely a big topic though, will either be a very long video or quite a summarised history.
@@arthistorygirl2327 Yes, I would look at Henry Darger. The story of his life and how he created his art is fascinating. I'm not sure how much you'll like his art. See what you think. I lived in Chicago where he is from and went to an exhibition where they recreated the room he lived in and it was very moving.
Well done. I learned a lot and found it very enjoyable. (Little hint if you know temp is going to be freezing: leave your water tap on just a tiny trickle all night, just a drip, and then it won't freeze. It's what we do in Canada in the cold parts during the winter!)
Thanks very much for that! We did google it after it happened and we have now done that a few nights. Brits are always very unprepared for snowy weather - it's a bit of an ongoing joke
Amazing work AHG. I have not looked closely at Bruegel before. Great detail
One of my faves, although I say that about pretty much everyone I covered 😂
Just read the other comments. You get some super knowledgeable people watching your stuff AHG
I know, I'm very lucky with my audience!
where did he see the Italian paintings? there were no museums
have you considered some parallel with the february month of the "tres riche heures du duc de Berry "
The double-headed eagle on the King's flag (also to be found on the Russian passport) is a freemasonic symbol, I believe.