Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Early Netherlandish painter and draughtsman, born c. 1525 in or near Breda, died 9 September 1569 in Brussels. He was mainly active in the Duchy of Brabant (Antwerp, Mechelen and Brussels), but also travelled to Italy. He counts among the most important artists of the Northern Renaissance and is particularly well known for his allegorical painting with scenes of the peasant life (resulting in the nickname "Boerenbruegel" or "Peasant Bruegel") and his nightmarish landscapes influenced by Hieronymus Bosch (3).

He was the father of Jan Brueghel The Younger. To distinguish him from his son he is often referred to as Pieter Bruegel I or "de Oude", "l'Ancien", "der Ältere" (d.Ä.) and other language variants. Though the artist himself spelled his name both with and without H throughout his life, in scholarly literature the spelling without H is reserved for the Elder. When the name Bruegel alone appears on a release, it is safe to assume it refers to this artist.