
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525/1530 – 1569), fondly referred to as Peasant Bruegel, had two sons; Pieter, born in 1564, and Jan, born in 1568. Both Pieter and Jan became celebrated artists. Pieter the Younger was an excellent artist and equally accomplished businessman; the greater bulk of his enormous oeuvre was centred around peasant themes. Read more

Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s original work, upon which The Peasant Wedding Dance is inspired, has been lost. Fortunately, Pieter van der Heyden engraved a work, presumed to be a copy of Bruegel’s painting, sometime after 1570. The setting of The Peasant Wedding Dance is, in part, comparable to The Wedding Dance (1566) where four dancing Read more

There was a time when imitating and emulating a celebrated artist was common practice. There are, for example, 127 documented copies of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Winter Landscape with Ice-skaters and Bird-trap. Bruegel’s The Wedding Dance, the subject of my previous post, was copied and imitated numerous times. Exactly how many copies were made is Read more

The peasant wedding was a popular theme in 16th and early 17th century Flemish art. Paintings of wedding processions, the presentation of wedding gifts, the blessing of the bridal bed, and the wedding feast flooded the art market. Images of a wedding dance, with exuberantly dancing peasants, were especially in demand. Bruegel composed two versions. Read more

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525 – 1569), fondly referred to as Peasant Bruegel, showcased the peasant in his rural surroundings. His celebrated peasant panels, The Wedding Dance (c. 1566), The Peasant Dance (1568), and The Peasant Wedding (1566-69), painted in the last years of his life, form but a small section of his oeuvre. Read more

Joachim Patinir, (c. 1480 – 1524), pioneer of Flemish landscape painting, created imaginary panoramic landscapes invariably envisaged from an elevated position. These fantasied landscapes, the world landscape, depicted high cliffs and rugged mountains juxtaposed against meandering rivers, extensive fields, flowing meadows, distant castles, and far-away villages. Biblical, historical or mythological figures often enhanced the foreground, Read more
14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne Adriaen van Ostade Albrecht Dürer Alma-Tadema Anthonie Palamedesz. art Arthurian Legends Bal des Ardents ballet Bergen School Bernard Picart Burgundian Court CoBrA Constant Cornelis Dusart Cornelis Massijs dance Dance around the Golden Calf dancers David Ryckaert III David Teniers the Younger David Vinckboons De Stijl Egg dance Else Berg Erhard Schön Frans Francken II Frans Hals Frans Huysmans George Hendrik Breitner Gertrud Leistikow Gillis Mostaert Haarlem Hans Bol Hans Vredeman de Vries Harmen Meurs Henri Braakensiek Herman Bieling Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Francken the Younger illuminated manuscript Isaac Israels Isaac van Ostade Jacob Grimmer Jacob Savery I Jacobus van Looy Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Mandijn & followers Jan Miense Molenaer Jan Sierhuis Jan Sluijters Jan Steen Jan Toorop Jean-Baptiste Vanmour Jean de Wavrin Jean Froissart Karel Appel Karel van Mander Kees Maks Kees van Dongen Leo Gestel Loyset Liédet Maarten van Heemskerck Maastricht Hours Marius Bauer Marten van Cleve Mommie Schwarz Mondrian Paolo Fiammingo/Pauwels Franck Pieter Aertsen Pieter Balten/Peeter Baltens Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel the Younger Pieter Codde Pieter de Bloot Pieter van der Borcht Pieter van der Heyden Piet Mondrian Piet van der Hem Romance of Alexander Roman de la Rose Rothschild Canticles Salome Sebald Beham Simon Bening Tango Theo van Doesburg Toer van Schayk Vilmos Huszár Vincent van Gogh Willem de Zwart
As a young aspiring dancer I loved to ponder over the magnificent paintings created by Edgar Degas. How his ballerinas inspired me. The atmosphere of the Paris Opera, the beautiful tutus and the hard working dancers never failed to trigger my imagination. As the years past, I retained my love of dance, of Degas, of art, and developed an interest in knowing more about the cross fertilization between art and dance.
