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Email to FriendPieter Brueghel the Elder, Engraving, Everyman, c. 1535-70  |
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| Artist: | Brueghel the Elder, Pieter (1525 - 1569) |
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| Title: | Everyman, c. 1535-70 |
| Reference: | B. 152, Holl. 152 |
| Medium: | Original Engraving |
| Image Size: | 11 5/8 in x 8 1/4 in (29.5 cm x 21 cm) |
| Sheet Size: | 11 5/8 in x 8 1/4 in (29.5 cm x 21 cm) |
| Framed Size: | 29 1/2 in x 26 1/8 in (74.9 cm x 66.4 cm) |
| Edition: | Engraved under Brueghel's direction by Pieter van der Heyden. This work is a State A impression, with the name of the publisher H. Cock engraved in the lower right. This work is printed on a find laid paper with the Gothic P watermark (Strauss, pg. 3 |
| Condition: | This work is in good condition - a bold impression; missing the lower text margin. |
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Gallery Price
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Item# 3227
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| MFA SALE | 50% Off: $13,000 |
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This curious piece, though fun and comical in appearance, addresses a somewhat dark subject matter - the concept that "No one knows himself." The bustling, bearded figures search desperately amidst a wealth of objects, yet Brueghel implies that no amount of material gain will lead to personal enlightenment. |
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| Historical Description: | |
Engraved under Brueghel's direction by Pieter van der Heyden. This work is a State A impression, with the name of the publisher H. Cock engraved in the lower right. This work is printed on a find laid paper with the Gothic P watermark (Strauss, pg. 332), dating the piece to c. 1535-70. Regarding this piece Klein states, "A picture within a picture hangs on the wall at top, left of center. A man in medieval garb sits amid a shamble of shards looking into a mirror. The legend below expresses in Flemish this pithy and pregnant thought: 'No one knows himself" (Niemat en kent he selve, i.e., Neimant en kent hem selven)…In the scene below, five figures - each labeled "Elck" or "Everyman" on his garments - are searching, pawing, clawing, tugging through an endless pile of things…things…things…the Elcks here are shown aging. They are distraught, frustrated, unhappy. The abundance of things does not fulfill their need; and the lantern leaves them as much as ever in the dark. It is a bitter business, with no final success in sight, to be looking, looking, looking only for one's self. For no man (Nemo) will find himself here, even though he may find "private gain" for himself." (Klein, p. 158-9). Documented and Illustrated in: About the Framing: | |
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Biography of Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525 - 1569)
Pieter Brueghel (1525-69), usually known as Pieter Brueghel the Elder to distinguish him from his elder son, was the first in a family of Flemish painters. You'll often find his name spelled as Bruegel (Pieter spelled it like that from 1559 onwards) or Breugel or Breughel.
He was born in Breda in the Duchy of Brabant, which is now part of The Netherlands but back then part of the Flanders.
Note: Flanders or Vlaanderen and the Netherlands (aka known as Holland) or Nederland share the same language. It's called Flemish, or "Vlaams" in Belgium and Dutch, or "Nederlands" in The Netherlands. And the name Holland, although it's often taken to mean the whole of the Netherlands, is really part of that country only, the area of the provinces called Zuid Holland and Noord Holland (South and North Holland).
Brueghel was accepted as a master in the Antwerp painters' guild in 1551, after being an apprentice of Coecke van Aelst, a leading Antwerp artist, sculptor, architect, and designer of tapestry and stained glass. Brueghel traveled to Italy in 1551 or 1552, completing a number of paintings, mostly landscapes, there. Returning home in 1553, he settled in Antwerp but ten years later moved permanently to Brussels. He married van Aelst's daughter, Mayken, in 1563. His paintings, including his landscapes and scenes of peasant life, stress the absurd and vulgar, yet are full of zest and fine detail. They also expose human weaknesses and follies. He was sometimes called the Peasant Brueghel. But it was in nature that he found his greatest inspiration. His mountain landscapes have few parallels in European art. Popular in his own day, Bruegel prints have remained consistently popular. Pieter Brueghel the Elder died in Brussels on Sept. 9, 1569.
