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This catalogue accompanies an exhibition at the Barber Institute of
Fine Arts that will shine a spotlight on Pieter Brueghel the
Younger (1564 - 1637/38), an artist who was hugely successful in
his lifetime but whose later reputation has been overshadowed by
that of his famous father, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525 -
1569). Peasants and Proverbs: Pieter Brueghel the Younger as
Moralist and Entrepreneur shares recent research into the Barber's
comical yet enigmatic little painting, Two Peasants Binding
Firewood, setting out fresh insights and offering a new
appreciation of a figure whose prodigious output and business
skills firmly established and popularised the distinctive
'Brueghelian' look of Netherlandish peasant life. Born in Brussels,
Pieter Brueghel the Younger was just five years old when his
renowned father died prematurely. Clearly talented, by the time he
was around 20 years old, Brueghel the Younger was already
registered as a master in Antwerp's Guild of Saint Luke. Between
1588, the year of his marriage, and 1626, he took on nine
apprentices, demonstrating that he had established a successful
studio. His workshop produced an abundance of paintings, ranging
from exact copies of famous compositions by his father, to
pastiches and more inventive compositions that further promoted the
distinctive Bruegelian 'family style', usually focused on scenes of
peasant life. He was, as a consequence, later deemed a second-rate
painter, capable of only producing derivative works. This
exhibition and book highlight how a more sophisticated
understanding is now emerging of a creative and capable artist, and
a savvy entrepreneur, who exploited favourable market conditions
from his base in cosmopolitan Antwerp. From this deeper
understanding of his practice, his favoured subjects and the market
for them, we gain a more profound and compelling insight into the
society in which he operated and its preoccupations and passions. A
dozen other versions of Two Peasants Binding Firewood exist and, by
examining some of them alongside the Barber painting, and using the
insights gleaned from recent conservation work and technical
analysis, the exhibition and book will explore how Brueghel the
Younger operated his studio to produce and reproduce paintings, and
the extent to which the entire enterprise was motivated by trends
in the contemporary art market.
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