In addition to numerous copies of his father’s work, Pieter Brueghel II also created original compositions such as this painting of the Village Lawyer, which is signed and dated 1621 at the bottom left. This painting is an interesting historical document. The authorities increasingly interfered with jurisdiction. Consequently, lawyers became an important intermediary in rural areas. As we see here, the lawyer often received payment in kind. In this work Pieter II Brueghel shows himself to be a satirical artist and amused observer of human relationships and social situations. He depicts the lawyer as a sly, greedy man who confounds the unsophisticated peasants with piles of paperwork.
| Artist |
Pieter II Brueghel
RKD
|
|---|---|
| Title | Village Lawyer |
| Date | 1621 |
| Period | 17th century |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signature and year bottom left: .P. BREVGHEL. 1621 |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1952-G |
| Acquisition credit |
long-term loan
Vlaamse Gemeenschap Brussels 1952 |
| Current whereabouts | Work on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1952-G |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/2313/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300189808
figures (representations)
AAT
300124520 interior views AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
25I2
village
Iconclass
31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31D14 adult man Iconclass 41A2 interior of the house Iconclass 41A3321 closed window Iconclass 41A4 decorations (interior of the house) Iconclass 41A7 furniture and household effects Iconclass 44G16 lawyer, attorney at law Iconclass 46A2 social contrast Iconclass 46A22 contrast between urban and rural life; city dweller versus country dweller Iconclass 49L5 writing tools Iconclass 49L62 ink-well Iconclass 49L641 paper (writing material) Iconclass 49L66 writing-table, writing-desk Iconclass 55BB1 Poverty; 'Poverta', 'Poverta del doni', 'Poverta in uno ch'habbia bell'ingegno' (Ripa) Iconclass 59BB Social Position (opposing concepts) Iconclass |
| School / Style | Renaissance AAT |
| 'Le Paiement des Impôts par Pierre Brueghel II (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand)', in: La Revue de la Banque / Sabine Speth-Holterhoff. - [s.l.]. - [s.n.]. - 1960 (jg. 24, nr. 1) |
| Acht eeuwen schilderkunst : Schatten uit de Belgische musea / Jozef Duverger, Robert L. Delevoy, Walter Vanbeselaere. - Brussel : Arcade, 1969 (p. 336, nr. 724) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Robert Hoozee. - Brussel : Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, 1988 (p. 33, 36) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. I, p. 60-61 (ill.)) |
| Het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : een keuze uit de mooiste werken / Patrick De Rynck. - Gent : Ludion, 2007 (p. 29 (ill.)) |
| Pieter Rixtel (1643-1673) : Een dichter zonder rust / Klaas De Jong. - Hilversum : Verloren, 2015 (p. 41) |
| Waarom de dorpsadvocaat van Brueghel eigenlijk een stadsprocureur is / Georges Martyn. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] |
| Malerei von ca. 1550 bis 1700 im Hessischen Landesmuseum Darmstadt : Zweibändiger Bestandskatalog / Heidrun Ludwig, Olivia Levental, Wolfgang Fuhrmannek. - Darmstadt : Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt), 2022 (p. 168-169) |
| Nicolas Baullery (vers 1560 - 1630), enquête sur un peintre parisien à l’aube du Grand Siècle / Vladimir Nestorov. - [s.l.]. - HAL, 2014 (p.116) |
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