Pieter Brueghel the Younger
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564 or 1565 – 1636) was a Flemish
painter, known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Brueghel
the Elder's paintings and nicknamed "Hell Brueghel" for his
fantastic treatments of fire and grotesque imagery.
Although his precise date of birth is unknown, he was 36 years
old on May 22, 1601 and died on October 10, 1636 at the age of 72.
Therefore, he was born in late 1564 or early 1565.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger was the oldest son of the famous
sixteenth-century Netherlandish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder
(known as "Peasant Brueghel") and Mayken Coecke van Aelst. His
father died in 1569, when Pieter the younger was only five years
old. Then, following the death of his mother in 1578, Pieter, along
with his brother Jan Brueghel the Elder ("Velvet Brueghel") and
sister Marie, went to live with their grandmother Mayken Verhulst
(widow of Pieter Coecke van Aelst). She was an artist in her own
right, and according to Carel van Mander, possibly the first teacher
of the two sons. The family moved to Antwerp sometime after 1578 and
Pieter possibly entered the studio of the landscape painter Gillis
van Coninxloo (1544-1607). In the 1584/1585 registers of Guild of
Saint Luke, "Peeter Brugel" is listed as an independent master. On
November 5, 1588 he married Elisabeth Goddelet, and the couple had
seven children.
He painted landscapes, religious subjects and fantasy paintings.
For this last category he often made use of fire and grotesque
figures, leading to his nickname "Hell Brueghel".
Apart from these paintings of his own invention, Pieter Brueghel
the Younger also copied the works his father had created by using a
technique called pouncing. His genre paintings of peasants lack
Pieter the Elder's subtlety and humanism, and emphasize the
picturesque.
