‘Bruegel: The Hand of the Master’ Makes Its Debut in Vienna

NATIONAL REVIEW
By Brian T. Allen

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Triumph of Death (1562-63) can be seen at the Kunsthistorisches Museum © Museo Nacional del Prado

Who was Pieter Bruegel? We know he was among the premiere image makers of Western art. Two of his paintings, Hunters in the Snow and Tower of Babel, both from 1565, have been famous since he created them. His packed village scenes are the sociological beehives of his time. He spawned a century’s worth of Bruegel family artists, so he’s called “Pieter Bruegel the Elder.” With about three-quarters of his paintings and about half his drawings, from the museum’s own holdings and collections throughout the world, “Bruegel: The Hand of the Master” comes to us, finally. We’ve waited 450 years. I went to Vienna to see the show and spent the day in the museum, one of the splendid piles of variegated marble and fairy-tale temples on the Ringstrasse. [More]