Title of Artwork: “The Peasant and the Birdnester”
Artwork by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Year Created 1568
Summary of The Peasant and the Birdnester
Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1568 oil on panel painting, The Peasant and the Nest Robber (also known as The Peasant and the Birdnester), depicts a rural Dutch scene. Located in Vienna, Austria at the Museum of Art History.
All About The Peasant and the Birdnester
Since 1569, this picture has been part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s collection; it was transferred to the imperial collection at the museum’s opening. Similar to other late works like The Land of Cockaigne, The Peasant Dance, and The Peasant Wedding, this picture was painted within a year before the artist’s death. Bruegel’s interest in Italian figure forms and compositions waned as soon as he returned to Antwerp, where he had received his formal training. It’s only in his latter works that we see the depths to which he’d delved into Italian painting, as these figures reveal.
This out-of-the-the-ordinary subject seems to exemplify a Dutch proverb:
Finally, it’s possible to deduce from this painting’s moral contrast between the active, wicked individual and the passive man who remains virtuous despite the odds (a similar theme appears in his drawing The Beekeepers). The pointing man may be passing judgement on the criminal while being completely unaware that he’s about to step into the water directly in front of him.
Bruegel may have meant the peasant’s move as a parody of the gesture of Leonardo’s St. John based on his understanding of Italian art.
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
