Overview

"This fascinating full-length study examines all works by the great Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel within the wider setting of art during his lifetime. The recent rediscovery in Spain of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's lost painting, The Wine of Saint Martin's Day, has created even more interest in this much-loved artist, who was one of the Netherlands' two great masters of satire and fantasy, along with Hieronymus Bosch. Although these two artists never met each other-Bruegel was born around 1525, a decade after Bosch's death-numerous features link them; indeed, Bruegel painted several demon-infested hellscapes directly inspired by the older master, and he was known in Antwerp as a “second Bosch.” But Bruegel is most famous for his peasant scenes, often humorous and packed with anecdote, and for his landscapes, which poignantly evoke Nature's changing seasons. His legacy to Netherlandish art was the enduring popularity of both these genres, as well as the artistic dynasty he founded, beginning with his painter sons Pieter the Younger and Jan Brueghel. Critics have often remarked how Bruegel's art, so keenly observed and richly detailed, seems to preserve a world in miniature. In this new monograph, Larry Silver, an eminent historian of Northern Renaissance art, serves as our guide to that world. He leads us expertly through Bruegel's complex and fascinating iconography, allowing us to see his paintings and drawings from the same perspective as his sixteenth-century countrymen. Silver situates Bruegel within the visual culture of his time-exploring, for example, his relationship with the print publisher Hieronymus Cock-and within the broader context of Netherlandish history. All of Bruegel's surviving paintings are reproduced here, with many full-page details, as well as all of his prints and representative works by his contemporaries and followers. AUTHOR: This volume on Bruegel complements Silver's widely praised monograph on Hieronymus Bosch, which was published by Abbeville Press in 2006. These two books are the most authoritative and best-illustrated studies of their respective subjects, and together they present us with a panorama of Netherlandish art's emergence into the distinctive form of the Northern Renaissance. Larry Silver, who received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, is Farquhar Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. Besides Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch, his other books include Art in History, Rembrandt's Faith, and Peasant Scenes and Landscapes. SELLING POINTS: ""Art historian Silver follows his magnificent Hieronymus Bosch (2006) with an equally capacious and gorgeously produced volume devoted to Bruegel... he astutely explores Bruegel's phenomenal gift for surreal, demonic, yet droll allegories; his encylopedic renderings of everyday Netherlandish peasant life; and his unconventional religious paintings.” -- Booklist ""This oversized book is beautiful in its own right, with glowing warm tones and rich shadow details throughout. ...[Silver] writes clearly and directly, admiring without fawning, and is respectful of previous Bruegel scholars even as he revises and reinterprets their work. His text is striking for the exactness of the formal descriptions and the carefully crafted social, artistic, and religious context."" -- The Bloomsbury Review ILLUSTRATIONS: 324 colour & b/w"

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9780789211040

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Praise for author Larry Silver's Hieronymous Bosch: Enormously impressive in its scholarly detail. -Art Times Every page proclaims high seriousness. This is the scholarly volume on the artist for our time. -Arizona Daily Star His explications of the paintings and their influence on other artists, most notably Pieter Bruegel the Elder, contain many fresh insights. -Bloomsbury Review

Praise for author Larry Silver's Hieronymous Bosch: Enormously impressive in its scholarly detail. -Art Times Every page proclaims high seriousness. This is the scholarly volume on the artist for our time. -Arizona Daily Star His explications of the paintings and their influence on other artists, most notably Pieter Bruegel the Elder, contain many fresh insights. -Bloomsbury Review

Author Information

Larry Silver, a historian of Northern Renaissance art, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and is currently Farquhar Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. His other books include Hieronymus Bosch (Abbeville Press), the general survey Art in History, and Landscapes and Peasant Scenes: The Rise of Pictorial Genres in the Antwerp Art Market.

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