Ludwig Munz

My first introduction to the works of Pieter Bruegel was in the Prado Museum in Madrid. I was fascinated by the imagination and the draftsmanship shown in these works and I visited the museum often over the period I lived in Madrid, and never failed to study some of the large paintings there. I don't recall any drawings but one can see where the draftsmanship in these drawings translated itself into paintngs. Here I must confess that I have always been a bit confused between Pieter B the Elder and Peiter B the Younger ...but I think the drawings in this book are the work of PB the Elder. (When I started researching a bit I found that there was actually a huge family of Flemish painters all related or connected with the Bruegels .....it was the family business and one which they did very well. I also used to get a bit confused with the paintings by Hieronymous Bosch that were hung alongside the works of Bruegel in the Prado (with their fantastic and Dali-esque contortions and amalgamations). But, back to the book. It's a really fine collection of drawings covering a wide range of the artists work. Interesting to me how many of the drawings of people were done from behind. Was this just a choice of perspective or was Bruegel sketching in the pub, or elsewhere, people who had no idea they were being sketched. Because this book is now rather old, none of the work is reproduced in colour ...they are all black and white ..though I assume there was colour involved in some of them.… (mehr)