Pieter Bruegel was born around 1525, probably in or near Breda. From 1551 he worked in Antwerp, at the time one of the most important cities in Western Europe. In 1552 or 1553, he travelled via France to Italy, right down to Sicily. After 1560, he went to work in Brussels, where he married the daughter of Pieter Coecke van Aelst, who was probably his teacher.
Initially he produced mainly landscapes, but later figurative pieces, with religious, didactic or satirical subjects, predominated. Thanks to the last two subjects, he acquired the nickname 'Farmer Bruegel'.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was the founder of a painters' dynasty, which included his sons Pieter Brueghel the Younger, known as 'Hell Brueghel', Jan Brueghel the Elder, known as 'Velvet Brueghel', and his grandsons Jan Brueghel the Younger and David Teniers the Younger.
Pieter Bruegel (I)
Brueghel circa 1526/1530 - Brussel 1569