PREP NOTES FOR LESSON 3 Provide scenes of snow, winter, and ice. Even if you live in a part of the world where this is not your experience, it is fun to learn more about these regions. Bruegel Lesson 3 Pieter Bruegel the Elder, BROY guhl , (~1525-1569)
People may dress, speak a language, or celebrate holidays in a different way than is customary for your family. How do you act around people who are different from you in some way? In Pieter Bruegel’s time, people separated themselves by the amount of money or possessions they owned. Rich families rarely mingled with the poor. Pieter Bruegel was different. He came from a wealthy family and he painted the poor. His paintings gave others a greater understanding of the way that they lived, loved, worked, and played.
“Good Sir!” Pieter called to the peasant who skillfully skated past him on the frozen canal. “Let me use your skates so that I can enjoy the ice.” Skating was a favorite past time of his people, yet Pieter Bruegel rarely had the time to do it. He was well educated as a child and time devoted to study still took up most of his day. Those long hours of learning had led him to Antwerp, Belgium, to study painting with two well-known artists. The sun soon set and Pieter returned the skates to the generous man. The man bowed with a humble smile to thank Pieter, for Pieter’s fine clothing and manner told him that Pieter was a young city man and not one of the poor, like himself. Pieter returned the smile, for although he was from a wealthy family, he did not feel the need to look down on the poor the way many of his class did. As Pieter walked back to his home, he thought about this kind and generous group of people. They struggled for necessary things like daily food and warm homes. Yet they had time to play, time to dance, and time to enjoy the land they lived on and the people who were their neighbors. Perhaps, he thought, they have strength of character worth noting. While the nobles worked and played within the high walls of their estates, the common people worked and played outdoors, in view of all. These peasants later became the subjects that Pieter Bruegel focused on in his paintings. He often dressed like a peasant so that he could attend weddings and other celebrations without being noticed. In peasant costume, he gathered information for his paintings. Bruegel painted scenes of their struggles and scenes of their joys. His pictures encouraged good character and displayed folly as well.
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