A fresh account of the life, ideas, and art of the beloved Northern
Renaissance master.
In sixteenth-century Northern Europe, during a time of increasing
religious and political conflict, Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel
explored how people perceived human nature. Bruegel turned his critical
eye and peerless paintbrush to mankind's labors and pleasures, its
foibles and rituals of daily life, portraying landscapes, peasant life,
and biblical scenes in startling detail. Much like the great humanist
scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam, Bruegel questioned how well we really know
ourselves and also how we know, or visually read, others. His work often
represented mankind's ignorance and insignificance, emphasizing the
futility of ambition and the absurdity of pride.
This superbly illustrated volume examines how Bruegel's art and ideas
enabled people to ponder what it meant to be human. Published to
coincide with the four-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of Bruegel's death,
it will appeal to all those interested in art and philosophy, the
Renaissance, and Flemish painting.