Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints

Accompanying an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints, edited by Nadine M. Orenstein, features the lesser known works of this famous 16th-century Flemish artist. In the introduction and essays, seven scholars, including museum director Philippe de Montebello, Manfred Sellink, Michiel C. Plomp and the editor, explore diverse biographical and artistic craft issues e.g., all that is known for certain of Bruegel's life is that, though he painted peasants, and early biographers dubbed him the ""`Peasant Bruegel,'"" he was in fact an urban intellectual. The exhibit treats these drawings in a new light thanks to the ""transformative insight"" of the late Hans Mielke i.e., new attributions to Bruegel or his circle, such as a sketch formerly attributed to Hieronymous Bosch. The book features 274 illustrations (108 in color): Bruegel's 54 works alongside works by his colleagues, predecessors and successors. (Sept.)