Peter Paul Rubens, who would become the greatest Flemish painter, Brueghel's greatest heir, and the artist most instrumental in synthesizing the art of the North (The Netherlands and Germany) and the South (Italy)... and the artist perhaps most instrumental in the development and spread of the genre of the landscape outside of the Netherlands... especially to France and England... was a great admirer and deeply indebted to Brueghel. Indeed, he owned several of Brueghel's paintings and was a close
Perhaps the most important contribution that Brueghel made to painting was that of legitimizing the landscape as a subject matter. Like Bosh, he stages most of his paintings within a landscape viewed from above... from a "bird's eye view". Even within paintings that have a central subject matter beyond the landscape, his landscapes remain a key element and exhibit an acute observation of the details of the real world that is astounding. These were clearly the result of endless life studies...
Two of the most stunning examples of Brueghel's religious works are the late, monochromatic paintings, Christ and the Adulteress, and The Death of the Virgin which employ an absolutely audacious use of chiaroscuro... or light/dark contrast not seen again until Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Adam Elseheimer and the Baroque.
-Christ and the Adulteress
Pieter Brueghel (also spelled Bruegel) c. 1525 – 9 September 1569- was a Flemish Renaissance painter and print-maker. Breughel was born the Dutch town of Breda. He apprenticed with Pieter Coecke van Aelst, whose daughter Mayken he later married. He dropped the "h" is his name in order to differentiate himself from a dynastic family of painters also named "Brueghel". He lived for a period in Antwerp before touring and studying in France and Italy. He was accepted into the painters
... the Impressionists...
Pierre Renoir- La Loge
... and beyond:
-Henri Matisse- Zora on the Terrace
Philip Guston- For M.
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