BRUEGHEL THE ELDER, Pieter, Hope from The World of Seven Virtues, c.1560
Pieter Brueghel (1525-69), usually known as Pieter Brueghel the Elder to distinguish him from his elder son, was the first in a family of Flemish p… [Read biography »]
Signed Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525 - 1569), Original Engraving, Hope from The World of Seven Virtues, c.1560  |
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| Artist: | Brueghel the Elder, Pieter (1525 - 1569) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Hope from The World of Seven Virtues, c.1560 |
| Medium: | Original Engraving |
| Image Size: | 11 3/8 in x 8 3/4 in (28.9 cm x 22.2 cm) |
| Sheet Size: | 11 3/8 in x 8 3/4 in (28.9 cm x 22.2 cm) |
| Framed Size: | 28 3/4 in x 26 1/8 in (73 cm x 66.4 cm) |
| Signed: | The signature of Bruegel is inscribed in cartouche in the lower left: 'BRVGEL. INV.' With 'H. cock excu.' in cartouche in the lower right |
| Edition: | A lifetime impression from the only state of two by Philips Galle based on an original work by Pieter Bruegel |
| Condition: | This work is in excellent condition, a rich and very dark impression |
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| Description: | |
Taken from Bruegel’s series of “The World of Seven Virtues,” Hope is personified here as the unshakeable figure amidst a sea of torment and a world of despair. She stands courageously, looking on, with a beehive atop her head, a scythe in one hand, and a shovel in the other. These three tools symbolize some of the most dangerous professions of men and those who are in need of Hope the most. According to H. Arthur Klein: “At first sight this print may seem an instance of bitter irony: Hope stands blandly, calmly, holding her symbols, while behind her men suffer all manner of catastrophe, loss, and misery. Yet it is clear that to Bruegel and the ethical point of view he represented graphically, Hope was what gave men strength to hang on somehow ‘amid so many nearly insupportable woes.’ One hopes that despite the disaster one will come through somehow. Without the woe – imminent or eventuated – what would be the meaning of hope? There has to be something one hopes to overcome or survive or get away from” (p. 122) . Created c. 1560, Hope features the following inscription in the lower margin: IVCVNDISSIMA EST SPEI PERSVASIO, ET VITAE IMPRIMIS NECESSARIA, INTER TOT AERVMNAS PENQ INTOLERABILES (The assurance that hope gives us is most pleasant and most essential to an existence amid so many nearly insupportable woes) . The signature of Bruegel is inscribed in cartouche in the lower left: ‘BRVGEL. INV.’ With ‘H. cock excu.’ in cartouche in the lower right. The latin, SPES (Hope) is also inscribed in cartouche in the lower center. A lifetime impression from the only state of two by Philips Galle based on an original work by Pieter Bruegel featuring the inscribed text plate along the lower margin on watermarked paper dating the piece to c. 1559 – 1591 (Gothic P with Flower, Br. 8715 - 8723) . Catalogue Raisonné & COA: 1. Bastelaer, René van. The Prints of Peter Bruegel the Elder, Catalogue Raisonné New Edition, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts: San Francisco, 1992. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 133 on pgs. 176-7. 2. Briquet, C.M. Les Filigranes, Dictionnaire Historique des Marques du Papier, Tome III L-O. Verlag: Leipzig, 1923. Watermark listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 8715 – 8723 on pg. 468. 3. Klein, H. Arthur. Graphic Worlds of Peter Bruegel the Elder, Dover Publications: New York, 1963. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 49 on pgs. 122-3. 4. Orenstein, Nadine M., ed. for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints, Yale University Press: New Haven, 2001. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné nos. 70-1 on pgs. 184-5. 5. Sellink, M. Pieter Bruegel: The Complete Paintings, Drawings and Prints. Ludion: NY, 2007. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 88 on pg. 146. Detail on preparatory drawing for Hope is listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 81 on pg. 139. About the Framing: | |
Biography of Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525 - 1569)
Pieter Brueghel (1525-69), usually known as Pieter Brueghel the Elder to distinguish him from his elder son, was the first in a family of Flemish painters. You'll often find his name spelled as Bruegel (Pieter spelled it like that from 1559 onwards) or Breugel or Breughel.
He was born in Breda in the Duchy of Brabant, which is now part of The Netherlands but back then part of the Flanders.
Note: Flanders or Vlaanderen and the Netherlands (aka known as Holland) or Nederland share the same language. It's called Flemish, or "Vlaams" in Belgium and Dutch, or "Nederlands" in The Netherlands. And the name Holland, although it's often taken to mean the whole of the Netherlands, is really part of that country only, the area of the provinces called Zuid Holland and Noord Holland (South and North Holland).
Brueghel was accepted as a master in the Antwerp painters' guild in 1551, after being an apprentice of Coecke van Aelst, a leading Antwerp artist, sculptor, architect, and designer of tapestry and stained glass. Brueghel traveled to Italy in 1551 or 1552, completing a number of paintings, mostly landscapes, there. Returning home in 1553, he settled in Antwerp but ten years later moved permanently to Brussels. He married van Aelst's daughter, Mayken, in 1563. His paintings, including his landscapes and scenes of peasant life, stress the absurd and vulgar, yet are full of zest and fine detail. They also expose human weaknesses and follies. He was sometimes called the Peasant Brueghel. But it was in nature that he found his greatest inspiration. His mountain landscapes have few parallels in European art. Popular in his own day, Bruegel engravings and paintings have remained consistently popular. Brueghel died in Brussels on Sept. 9, 1569.
