Antwerp and Bruegel
In the 16th century Antwerp became the largest trading city in Europe and a centre of art, printing and tapestry. Here and in Brussels, Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted his peasants, landscapes and proverbs.
When trade moved away from Bruges, Antwerp grew into a world metropolis. Spices from Portugal, silver from Spain and textiles from England changed hands on the quays of the Scheldt, and in 1531 an exchange opened where merchants from all over Europe met. The city had hundreds of painters, who worked not only on commission but also for an open market.
Quentin Matsys from Leuven became the city’s leading painter around 1500 and carried the precision of the Primitives into new subjects such as money-changers and caricatures. Joachim Patinir made landscape the main matter of the picture, and the group known as the Antwerp Mannerists painted elegant, restless figures. Later many travelled to Rome and brought back the formal language of Michelangelo and Raphael; they are called Romanists.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder went his own way. He became a master in the Antwerp painters’ guild in 1551, travelled to Italy and then made designs for engravings for the publisher Hieronymus Cock. From 1563 he lived in Brussels. His paintings of peasants, seasons, proverbs and biblical scenes in Flemish villages gave a new picture of humanity and landscape at a time of religious unrest and war.