Pieter Brueghel the Younger(Brussels 1564/65 – 1637/38 Antwerp)

How to cite
Libby, Alexandra. “Pieter Brueghel the Younger” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Editedby Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artists/pieter-brueghel-theyounger/ (archived June 2020).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger was born in Brussels around 1564/65 into an artistic dynasty.[1] Grandson ofPieter Coecke van Aelst (1502–50) on his mother’s side, and son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525/30–69),
Pieter the Younger may have first trained with his maternal grandmother, Mayken Verhulst (1518–1600), who
was a painter in her own right. His father had died when he was only five and, according to Karel van Mander,
Verhulst taught Pieter the Younger’s younger brother, Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625).[2] Van Manderwrites that Pieter the Younger studied with the Flemish landscape painter Gillis van Coninxloo (1544–1607), atraining that likely occurred around 1580.[3]By 1584/85 Pieter the Younger was registered as an independent master in the Guild of Saint Luke inAntwerp. He married Elizabeth Goddelet in 1588, and in that same year he took on his first of nine known
apprentices, whose names include Frans Snyders (1579–1657) and Gonzales Cocques (1614–84).[4] In 1589
Pieter and Elizabeth gave birth to a son, also named Pieter, who, following family tradition, became a painter,
enrolling in the Antwerp guild in 1608. The date of Pieter the Younger’s death is not known, but his nameappears in the list of death duties in the guild records in 1637/38, suggesting that he died at the age of seventythree or seventy-four.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, often referred to as “Peasant Brueghel,” largely depicted scenes of rural life.
Assembling an enormous workshop, he produced numerous copies and adaptations of his father’scompositions, which varied in size, quality and, therefore, price. Pieter the Younger also painted scenes of hisown invention, characterized, like his father’s work, by high viewpoints, sweeping vistas and crowds of figuresattending marriages, fairs and country festivals. Despite the prolific production of his workshop, Pieter theYounger does not seem to have been enjoyed financial stability; his name appears time and again in© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Pieter Brueghel the Younger
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municipal records detailing financial difficulties.[5] Nevertheless, judging by the high number of his paintings inseventeenth-century inventories of Antwerp collections, as well as period export registries, his works—whether
copies, imitations of original design, or by his large workshop—were extremely popular.[6] He was, moreover,greatly admired by his peers, including Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), who painted his portrait, and PeterPaul Rubens (1577–1640), who owned one of his works.
After Pieter’s death, his son Pieter III and his nephews Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601–78) and Ambrosius
Brueghel (1617–75) carried on the family name. Anna Brueghel (1619–56), the sister of Jan and Ambrosius,married David Teniers the Younger (1610–90), further assuring the continuation of the great dynasty ofFlemish painters.

- Alexandra Libby, 2017

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Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Page 3 of 3Endnotes

1. The exact date of his birth is not known. Two surviving documents, however, give his age as
thirty-six on 22 May 1601 and seventy-two on 10 October 1636. See Georges Marlier, Pieter
Brueghel le Jeune (Brussels, 1969), 4; Jacqueline Folie, “Pieter Brueghel the Younger,
1564/5–1637/8,” in Brueghel Enterprises, ed. Peter van den Brink (Brussels, 2001), 44.
2. Karel van Mander, Het Schilder-Boeck (Haarlem, 1604), 156.
3. Although Van Mander lists Coninxloo as Pieter the Younger’s master, he does not provide
dates of study; see Karel van Mander, Het Schilder-Boeck (Haarlem, 1604), 156. Marlier, whoquestions whether the Coninxloo mentioned by Van Mander is the famed landscape painteror a painter with same name, suggests a date of around 1579/80; see Georges Marlier, Pieter
Brueghel le Jeune (Brussels, 1969), 4–5.
4. Jacqueline Folie, “Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1564/5–1637/8,” in Brueghel Enterprises, ed.
Peter van den Brink (Brussels, 2001), 44.
5. Jacqueline Folie, “Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1564/5–1637/8,” in Brueghel Enterprises, ed.
Peter van den Brink (Brussels, 2001), 45; Peter van den Brink, “The Art of Copying: Copying
and Serial Production of Paintings in the Low Countries in the Sixteenth and SeventeenthCenturies,” in Brueghel Enterprises, ed. Peter van den Brink (Brussels, 2001), 41.
6. Georges Marlier, Pieter Brueghel le Jeune (Brussels, 1969), 8.

Literature
Van Mander, Karel. Het Schilder-Boeck. Haarlem, 1604, 156.
Marlier, Georges. Pieter Brueghel le Jeune. Brussels, 1969.
Folie,Jacqueline.

“PieterBrueghel

theYounger,1564/5–1637/8.”

InBrueghelEnterprises. Edited by Peter van den Brink, 1–45. Brussels, 2001.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection