BRUEGHEL. – Family of Flemish painters, whose progenitor was Pieter the Elder, who had two sons, Pieter the Younger (called “of the Hells”) and Jan the Elder (called “of the Velvets”); the latter was the father of Jan the Younger, from whom descended Jan Pieter, Abraham (called “the Neapolitan”), Philips, Ferdinand, and Jan Baptist.
PIETER THE ELDER, born perhaps at Breda around 1525, died at Brussels on 5 September 1569. A pupil of Pieter Coeck van Aelst, he absorbed the influence of the works of Hieronymus Bosch (v.); master in 1551 and active especially in Antwerp and, from 1563, in Brussels; he was in Rome in 1553.
He exercised the liveliest influence on Flemish art, whose best-known expressions, the so-called “genre” painting, depend essentially on his works, widely disseminated through the engravings that extended his fame. Among his paintings of religious subjects, the Adorations of the Magi in Brussels and London are especially noteworthy; but his reputation rests above all on the series of the Months in the Vienna gallery and on the works in which his exceptional imagination manifests itself most freely, such as the landscapes (including the Alpine ones, which document his journey to Italy) and the scenes of popular life. The Naples picture gallery preserves the allegory of the Blind, and the Doria Gallery in Rome the Port of Naples.
PIETER THE YOUNGER (born at Brussels in 1564, died at Antwerp in 1638) and JAN THE ELDER (born at Brussels in 1568, died at Antwerp in 1625), his sons, imitated and continued their father’s style and compositions, often preferring rather small formats both for paintings of religious subjects (the “infernal” ones are particularly well known) and for representations of landscapes, flowers, or peasant life. Pieter was a pupil of Gillis van Coninxloo. Jan, who was also a collaborator of Rubens, made a journey to Italy, remaining in Rome from 1592 to 1594 and stopping in Milan in 1596.
JAN THE YOUNGER (born in 1601, died in 1678), son of Jan the Elder, continued his father’s manner still further, in ever smaller formats, and preferred to paint still lifes (especially flowers), landscapes with animals, etc. The creative power of both gradually weakened, while their works increasingly took on a merely popularizing character and monotonous imitation of their predecessors.
JAN PIETER (born in 1628?), ABRAHAM (born in 1631, died around 1690), and JAN BAPTIST (born in 1647, died in 1719), working for much of their lives in Italy, continued to paint in the family tradition without adding new elements of importance. – Vedi Tav. XI.