Bruegel and the Creative Process, 1559-1563

Book excerpt: The art Bruegel produced between 1559 and 1563 presents a rare opportunity to investigate a concentrated period of productivity by one of the world's greatest artists. In this brief period Bruegel produced some of his most original works-the first pictorial collection of contemporary customs in Carnival and Lent, the first painting with children's activities as its subject in Children's Games, the first large-scale painting of a proverb collection, the unique and enigmatic Dulle Griet (Mad Meg), and the extraordinary Triumph of Death, his disturbing vision of men and women fighting off the onslaught of death. In this comprehensive study, Margaret A. Sullivan accounts for this burst of creativity, its intensity, innovation and brevity, by taking all aspects of the creative process into consideration-from the technical demands of picture-making to the constraints imposed by the dangerous religious and political situation.