Bruegel. Phaidon Color Library

by Keith Roberts

This series acts as an introduction to key artists and movements in art history. Each title contains 48 full-page colour plates, accompanied by extensive notes, and numerous comparative illustrations in colour or black and white, a concise introduction, select bibliography and detailed source information for the images. Monographs on individual artists also feature a brief chronology.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Ben Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am lucky in that I have probably seen about 20-25% of Bruegel's slender output and it was good to have a book that captured everything he has produced. Though his pictures are not huge there is a lot going on in them and even in an A4 sized book it is hard to see all of the details of some of the paintings without staring quite closely.

The volume gets round this by providing quite a lot of pages which are details from sections of his paintings. In a few cases the whole painting gets reduced to a small black and white image with large colour details which I can understand but would have rather had a full page colour version of the whole painting. Still that is a fairly small quibble and the paintings are a delight to look at. The introduction is well written and just about the right length. Overall a great book by an enjoyable painter.

Its worth comparing some of his works with Wheres Wally/Waldo - surprising similar.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comparable with Bosch but better because of the humanist portrayal of his paintings. Book of slides A4 size and light enough to carry around. Mostly good quality but some images are in black and white. Although it is made clear that these are just there for comparison, it seems pointless if not in colour. The Fall of Icuras is a good example. It is difficult to see Icarus in the water. Otherwise, a useful book to have.

[Jai M {Cat Crazy Dragon } · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pieter Bruegel's sixteenth century artworks, accompanied by Keith Roberts' explanatory text provides many interesting insights into this otherwise hidden world. Bruegel followed Bosch into the weird and wonderful, but along with the expected religious subject matter, produced his detailed and fascinating portraits of Flemish village life. 'The Peasant Wedding' and 'The blind leading the blind' being typical examples that I find fascinating.
Without Roberts' text, many scenes in such paintings as 'Netherlandish Proverbs' and 'Children's Games' would be inexplicable. Numerous plates in this book feature the fine detail from larger works.
Well worth a perusal.

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the other hand, the prints are not as clear as they could be - and mostly consist of details. The accompanying commentary is sparse. The introduction is the best part --

This is a much better book than the pedestrian volume in this series on the northern Dutch painters. Though not flawless, there are, in the brief introduction (20 pages), on every page flashes of brilliance... and is worth reading.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting criticism and well illustrated.