Breughel

Breughel, the name of a Flemish family of painters, derived from the village of Breughel, near Breda, from which they came. The most noted of them are: -

1. Peter Breughel, the Elder (1510-1567, or according to some 1530-1600). He studied at Antwerp and in Italy, and finally settled in Brussels. He was of the Flemish school, and chose for his subject those homely and humorous scenes of Flemish life which Teniers and Van Ostade have made us familiar with. He was fond, too, of Scriptural subjects, which, however, he made Flemish in costume and surroundings.

2. Peter Breughel, the Younger (1559-1637). He lived chiefly at Antwerp, and was commonly called "Hell" Breughel, from his fondness for painting fires and other sombre or fiery subjects. His Fall of the Rebel Angels is in the Brussels Museum.

3. John Breughel, brother of the last-mentioned, and son of Peter the Elder (1569-1625, or 1575-1642). He painted at Rome for Cardinal Borromeo, and among his subjects were Daniel in the Lions' Den, St. Jerome in the Desert, Antwerp Cathedral. He was a good landscape painter, in spite of his excessive use of certain pronounced colours, and is said to have painted still life in the compositions of Rubens and others. To distinguish him from Peter, he was called "Velvet" Breughel; but whether with reference to his dress or to his manner of painting is not clearly known.