Winterlandscape with Bird-Trap
1601 dated | Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.
Around 100 copies prove the extraordinary popularity of this composition after Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It was presumed that the austere winter of 1564–65 could have been the catalyst for Bruegel’s two pictures dealing with the subject of a winter landscape. The bird-trap (to the right) and the skaters were both given a deeper proverbial or moralising meaning (a warning to be vigilant, the slipperiness of life’s course), though there is no convincing evidence for this. This copy is considered one of the oldest and best samples in existence.
Around 100 copies prove the extraordinary popularity of this composition after Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It was presumed that the austere winter of 1564–65 could have been the catalyst for Bruegel’s two pictures dealing with the subject of a winter landscape. The bird-trap (to the right) and the skaters were both given a deeper proverbial or moralising meaning (a warning to be vigilant, the slipperiness of life’s course), though there is no convincing evidence for this. This copy is considered one of the oldest and best samples in existence.
Circle:
Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. (um 1525/30 Breugel oder Antwerpen? - 1569 Brüssel) DNB
previously attributed to:
Pieter Brueghel d. J. (fraglich) (um 1564/65 Brüssel - 1638 Antwerpen) DNB
Time:
1601 dated
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Netherlandish; Flemish
Material/technology:
oak wood
Dimensions:
39 x 57 cm
Framed: 52,2 cm x 69,5 cm x 6 cm
Inscribed
Bez. rechts unten: P. BRVEGH ...; sowie nicht mehr deutlich lesbar: 1601
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 625
Provenance
Coll. Leopold Wilhelm