Carrera 2

artmastered: ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c.1525-1569 Pieter Bruegel is perhaps the most well-known member of the Flemish Brueghel dynasty of painters (he removed the ‘h’ from his name in 1559). He was the father of Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder, and the grandfather of Jan Brueghel the Younger, but there are many other names to consider in the artistic study of this exceptionally talented family. However, if you ever hear someone mention the name Bruegel without specifying, they are most likely to be referring to Pieter the Elder. One of the first paintings I ever looked at whilst studying art history, is Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (top). This is the story of Icarus from Greek mythology, who flew too close to the sun using the wings his father had constructed out of feathers and wax. Icarus fell back to earth after the wax melted from the sun’s heat and drowned in the sea. I love the humour in this piece: you can see where Icarus has fallen (just in front of the large ship) but he is so small and compositionally insignificant, it just makes me laugh! Life goes on, as they say.