Bruegel The Complete Graphic Works

Maarten Bassens, Joris Van Grieken, Lieve Watteeuw, Jan Van Der Stock

The complete graphic work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, published in one luxurious edition.

One of the greatest Netherlandish artists, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525/30–1569) is best known today for his paintings of peasant life. Yet it was, above all, through his exceptional graphic work that he achieved widespread fame during the sixteenth century. Bruegel offers readers the opportunity to get up close and personal with Bruegel’s famous prints, reproduced at actual size. The book provides a wonderful showcase of Bruegel’s imaginary world, featuring meticulous reproductions of his preparatory drawings and finished prints depicting Italian landscapes, the seven deadly sins, extraordinary figures, and more. Essays by a distinguished group of Bruegel scholars open the book. They discuss the Royal Library of Belgium’s collection of Bruegel prints; the results of the Fingerprint research project; Bruegel as draftsman and printmaker; Bruegel’s editions, in particular his collaboration with Hieronymus Cock; and the posthumous survival of his art.

This luxurious book accompanies a major exhibition at the Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels, a center of Bruegel scholarship that holds an unparalleled collection of the artist’s graphic work.

Reviews

Beautifully illustrated…with new technical and historical analysis focused on confirming the attribution of approximately 70 original prints, Bruegel's working methods, and his artistic and publishing intentions.

— Choice

Contributors

Maarten Bassens

Author

Maarten Bassens is a curator at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels.

Joris Van Grieken

Author

Joris Van Grieken is a curator at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels.

Lieve Watteeuw

Author

Lieve Watteeuw is head of the Book Heritage Lab at the University of Leuven.

Jan Van Der Stock

Author

Jan Van der Stock is a professor at the University of Leuven.