ABSTRACT
Peter Bruegel the Elder's Netherlandish Proverbs marks a major breakthrough in his career, the first in a series of complex, innovative paintings and the beginning of a concentrated period of creativity rarely equaled by any other artist. Between 1559 and 1563, working alone and without workshop participation, Bruegel produced a unique body of work, original in conception, skillful in execution, and remarkable for the ingenious ways in which ideas and images developed in one work are adapted and manipulated in others. When proverbs first made their appearance in northern art late in the medieval period it was in a learned context, clerical and/or courtly. Proverbs served as the subject of small sculptural decorations such as those carved on misericords early in the sixteenth century and Grosshans notes a number that reappear in Bruegel's painting. For Renaissance proverb enthusiasts the creation of a proverb collection was a prestigious way for a cultured person to spend leisure hours.
