Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. (1525-1569)

Alte Pinakothek

Flemish painter. Born c.1525 in Breda (?). Pupil of Pieter Coeck van Aelst in Antwerp; 1550/51 painted an altarpiece (since lost) for the Guild of Glovemakers in Antwerp in collaboration with Pieter Balten; 1551 accepted by the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp as master. Subsequently stayed in Italy; his presence in Rome is documented in 1553. After his return, he worked with Hieronymus Cock, a publisher and dealer in graphics. (whose workshop, "To the Four Winds", was one of the artistic centres of the Netherlands). In 1563 Bruegel married Mayken Coeck, the daughter of his former master, and moved to Brussels, where he died in 1569.