Peasant dance. Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
1568, oil on wood, 114 × 164 cm
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
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Bauerntanz. Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.
um 1568, Öl auf Holz, 114 × 164 cm
Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum
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. Πήτερ Μπρίγκελ ο πρεσβύτερος
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The Peasant Dance is an oil-on-panel by Flemish renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted in c. 1569. It is currently held and exhibited at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Description
This panel, not signed nor dated, was looted by Napoleon Bonaparte and brought to Paris in 1808, being returned in 1815.[1] It was painted at about the same time as The Peasant Wedding, that is, circa 1567. The sizes of the two paintings are the same and they may have been intended as a pair or as part of a series illustrating peasant life.[2] They are the two most outstanding examples of Bruegel's late style, which is characterized by his use of monumental Italianate figures.[3]
Details
Like The Peasant Wedding, it is likely that Bruegel intended this painting to have a moral sense rather than simply being an affectionate portrayal of peasant life. Gluttony, lust and anger can all be identified in the picture. The man seated next to the bagpipe player wears a peacock feather in his hat, a symbol of vanity and pride.[4] The occasion for the peasants' revelry is a saint's day, but dancers turn their backs on the church and pay no attention whatsoever to the image of the Virgin which hangs on the tree. The prominence of the tavern makes it clear that they are preoccupied with material rather than spiritual matters.[5]
References
Danza di contadini.
Cf. Pietro Allegretti, Brueghel, Skira, Milano 2003. ISBN 0-00-001088-X (Italian)
There is another version of this subject by Bruegel in a painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts, entitled The Wedding Dance (see image at Wikimedia: "Bruegel dance 1566 Detroit"). It is dated 1566 and although the surface is rather worn, it is today generally accepted as an authentic work from Bruegel's own hand. The composition is more crowded and in consequence more effective than the Vienna picture.
See Grove Art Online
Screech, Matthew (2005). Masters of the ninth art: bandes dessinées and Franco-Belgian identity. Liverpool University Press. p. 85.
External links
The Peasant Dance at the KHM
Kunsthistorisches Museum's Official Website
Bosch Bruegel Society
99 works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Creativity Brueghel laid the foundation of the Netherlands School
"Bruegel". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
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