Pieter Bruegel (about 1525-69), usually known as Pieter Bruegel the Elder to distinguish him from his elder son, was the first in a family of Flemish painters. He spelled his name Brueghel until 1559, and his sons retained the "h" in the spelling of their names.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, generally considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, is by far the most important member of the family. He was probably born in Breda in the Duchy of Brabant, now in The Netherlands. Accepted as a master in the Antwerp painters' guild in 1551, he was apprenticed to Coecke van Aelst, a leading Antwerp artist, sculptor, architect, and designer of tapestry and stained glass. Bruegel traveled to Italy in 1551 or 1552, completing a number of paintings, mostly landscapes, there. Returning home in 1553, he settled in Antwerp but ten years later moved permanently to Brussels. He married van Aelst's daughter, Mayken, in 1563. His association with the van Aelst family drew Bruegel to the artistic traditions of the Mechelen (now Malines) region in which allegorical and peasant themes run strongly. His paintings, including his landscapes and scenes of peasant life, stress the absurd and vulgar, yet are full of zest and fine detail. They also expose human weaknesses and follies. He was sometimes called the "peasant Bruegel" from such works as Peasant Wedding Feast (1567).

The Tower of Babel

 1563; Oil on oak panel, 114 x 155 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna 

The Peasant Dance

 1568; Oil on oak panel, 114 x 164 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna 

The Triumph of Death

 1562; Oil on panel, 117 x 162 cm; Museo del Prado, Madrid

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)

 1562; Oil on panel, 117.4 x 162 cm; Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp

Netherlandish Proverbs

 1559; Oil on oak panel, 117 x 163 cm; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Gemaldegalerie, Berlin

Peasant wedding

 1568; Oil on wood, 114 x 164 cm (45 x 64 1/2 in); Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Photographs by Mark Harden and Carol Gerten-Jackson.