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, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archivedDecember 2023).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed bya permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger was born in Brussels around 1564/65 into an artistic dynasty.[1] Grandson of Pieter Coecke
van Aelst (1502–50) on his mother’s side, and son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525/30–69), Pieter the Younger may havefirst 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 Mander writes that Pieter the Younger studied with the Flemish landscapepainter Gillis van Coninxloo (1544–1607), a training that likely occurred around 1580.[3]By 1584/85 Pieter the Younger was registered as an independent master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. 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 name appears in the list of death duties in the guild records in 1637/38,
suggesting that he died at the age of seventy-three or seventy-four.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, often referred to as “Peasant Brueghel,” largely depicted scenes of rural life. Assembling anenormous workshop, he produced numerous copies and adaptations of his father’s compositions, which varied in size,
quality and, therefore, price. Pieter the Younger also painted scenes of his own invention, characterized, like his father’swork, by high viewpoints, sweeping vistas and crowds of figures attending marriages, fairs and country festivals. Despite
the prolific production of his workshop, Pieter the Younger does not seem to have been enjoyed financial stability; hisname appears time and again in municipal records detailing financial difficulties.[5] Nevertheless, judging by the highnumber of his paintings in seventeenth-century inventories of Antwerp collections, as well as period export registries, hisworks—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 Peter© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Page 2 of 3

Paul 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 of Flemish painters.

- Alexandra Libby, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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 leJeune (Brussels, 1969), 4; Jacqueline Folie, “Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1564/5–1637/8,” in BrueghelEnterprises, 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 ofstudy; see Karel van Mander, Het Schilder-boeck (Haarlem, 1604), 156. Marlier, who questions whether
the Coninxloo mentioned by Van Mander is the famed landscape painter or 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 vanden Brink (Brussels, 2001), 44.
5. Jacqueline Folie, “Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1564/5–1637/8,” in Brueghel Enterprises, ed. Peter vanden 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 Seventeenth Centuries,” in BrueghelEnterprises, 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. “Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1564/5–1637/8.” In Brueghel Enterprises. Edited byPeter van den Brink, 1–45. Brussels, 2001.
Currie, Christina, and Dominique Allart. The Brueg[H]el Phenomenon: Paintings by Pieter Bruegel theElder and Pieter Brueghel the Younger, with a Special Focus on Technique and Copying Practice. Brussels,2012.
Orrock, Amy. Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty. Exh. cat. Bath, The Holburne Museum of Art. London,2017.
Edwards, Jamie, et al. Peasants and Proverbs: Pieter Brueghel the Younger as Moralist and Entrepreneur.
Exh. cat. Birmingham, Barber Institute of Fine Arts. London, 2022.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection