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How are you?
On every Thursday,
I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the
title “Interesting
Art Stories”.
The 37th story for
this week is “The
Harvesters” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
“The Harvesters” is an oil painting on wood completed by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565, the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting.
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| Pieter Bruegel the Elder |
This painting is one in a series of six works, five of which are currently
surviving, that depict different times of the year. This painting depicts the
harvest time, in July and August, or late summer. It was commissioned by
Nicolaes Jonghelinck, a merchant and art collector from Antwerp.
As in many of his paintings, this painting focuses on farmers and their work and does not have the religious themes which were common in landscape paintings of the time. Specifically, this painting depicts both the production and consumption of food, which some farmers are harvesting wheat while some are eating. In front of the woman sitting and eating bread and cheese, there are also pears on the white cloth.
This painting shows many of activities representing the 16th-century’s European rural life. For example, on the far right, a person on the apple tree is shaking the tree, and people under the tree are picking up fallen apples. Behind the people eating food, there are some people tying up the harvested wheat sheaves. At the far in the center left of the painting, there are a group of people participating in cock throwing, a type of blood sports.
This painting has been at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, USA since 1919. The Museum regards it as a “watershed in the history of Western art” and “the first modern landscape”.
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| Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, the United States |
Of Bruegel's five surviving
works in a series depicting different times of the year, the remaining four
works are as follows, and including this one, all of them are oil on wood
painting created in 1565.
1. The Gloomy Day
This painting is set in
February and March, and portrayed by the cold atmosphere and leafless trees.
The paper crown wrapped around the boy's head and a boy eating waffles suggest
that the timing of this painting is the Carnival time prior to Lent. The sky,
the ships crashing into the shoreline, and the children in the foreground
suggest harsh weather is approaching. The painting is currently in the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.
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| Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria |
2. The Hay Harvest
This painting represents
June and July and is the most important work of the Northern European
Renaissance possessed by the Lobkowicz Palace in the Prague Castle in Prague,
Czech Republic. This painting was hung in the dining room of the Antwerp
merchant Nicolaes Jonghelinck.
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| Lobkowicz Palace, Prague, Czech Republic |
3. The Hunters in the Snow
This painting is also called
“The Return of the Hunters” and is set in the midwinter during December and
January. The painting shows a wintry scene in which three tired-looking hunters
are returning from hunting with their dogs. It seems that this hunting was not
successful by the appearances of the hunters and the dogs also look very tired.
Currently, this painting is in the possession of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
in Vienna, Austria.
4. The Return of the Herd
This painting represents the autumn scenery of October and November from the trees colored with foliage. It is now in the possession of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.
As described above, referencing
the surviving five paintings, one lost work among the six paintings in a series
is presumed to represent the late spring, April and May.
Thank you.
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