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Bruegel in Detail: The Portable Edition
Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569) is known for his beautiful landscapes and peasant scenes. Reproducing all of Bruegel’s best-known paintings, drawings, and prints, this book reveals them in stunning large close-up details that showcase his mastery. It offers astonishing views of popular works such as Hunters in the Snow, Peasant Wedding, and The Tower of Babel. The prints and drawings section includes his series on Sins and Virtues. Bruegel expert Manfred Sellink reveals how the artist introduced new subject matter into fine art and examines his use of landscape, perhaps the artist’s greatest innovation.
- GenresArt
280 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 15, 2021
This is another great one in the excellent series of painters "In Detail", by the Ludion Publishing House. Sellink offers a good guide to dive into the remarkable work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder: good introductory and thematic overviews and lots of detailed pictures, exploring how Bruegel looked at the world and the techniques he used to bring it to life on canvas. Just one citation: "the content, form and technique of the compositions make them visual puzzles, in which the search for meanings, references and allusions is as much part of the enjoyment as marvelling at the brilliant technique with which every detail is drawn or painted." I've done longer over this book than normally, but in this case, that's a very good sign!
December 31, 2023
Manfred Sellink chose an interesting angle for his book about Bruegel. Or you could call it a lens, as in a way Sellink looks at Bruegel's paintings through a microscope. I think this approach worked really well for Bruegel's particular style - each painting contains countless details, figures, objects, symbols, ongoing processes, so you can have your pick and never run out of things to pore over.
The book is organized into thematic chapters disregarding the chronology of the paintings etc. Every other page is an enlarged detail of a painting, printed in color, supplemented with a text on why it's notable or sometimes providing some historical context. I enjoyed looking at all the paintings - Bruegel's work truly fascinates me.
The book is organized into thematic chapters disregarding the chronology of the paintings etc. Every other page is an enlarged detail of a painting, printed in color, supplemented with a text on why it's notable or sometimes providing some historical context. I enjoyed looking at all the paintings - Bruegel's work truly fascinates me.
April 18, 2020
Lovely to see the different details blown up, but the work would've benefited from a more structured approached, and something which I found particularly annoying was the fact there were no pictures of the complete paintings the details were taken from, only a list of miniscule pictures in the front of the book. The graphic designer should have put a full double page spread for each complete painting to keep the overview. I had to look them up online to get an idea, which sort of beats the point of the book.
Also, I expected a more elaborate explication for each handled detail. The text stayed very superficial, and was sometimes even completely superfluous, and I was left with many questions.
Also, I expected a more elaborate explication for each handled detail. The text stayed very superficial, and was sometimes even completely superfluous, and I was left with many questions.
August 29, 2018
About 70 details from Bruegel's painting and drawings by Manfred Sellink, one of the foremost Bruegel specialists.
The book is a bit of a missed opportunity, as the accompaning texts are rudimentary - while there was plenty of room on the pages to provide more insights or objective information. The publisher chose esthetic concerns over content, making this a coffee table book. On the other hand, the main draw of this book obviously are the details themselves.
Another important remark concerns the quality of the images. Mostly the printing is simply good, at times even excellent, with sharp, clear reproductions, but sadly not in all cases. Still, I know of no other book in which one can study Bruegel's brush technique and the texture of the paintings as well as here.
Conclusion: with more text and a 100% attention to the quality of the photographs of the works this would have been a 5-star publication. I'd say 3.5 now.
Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It
The book is a bit of a missed opportunity, as the accompaning texts are rudimentary - while there was plenty of room on the pages to provide more insights or objective information. The publisher chose esthetic concerns over content, making this a coffee table book. On the other hand, the main draw of this book obviously are the details themselves.
Another important remark concerns the quality of the images. Mostly the printing is simply good, at times even excellent, with sharp, clear reproductions, but sadly not in all cases. Still, I know of no other book in which one can study Bruegel's brush technique and the texture of the paintings as well as here.
Conclusion: with more text and a 100% attention to the quality of the photographs of the works this would have been a 5-star publication. I'd say 3.5 now.
Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It
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December 31, 2020It is almost hard to believe the commentaries were written by an expert and not some guy in the publishing house who was told to come up with them at 15:45 on Friday. Little ice age is brought up every time a winter painting is presented. Examples could go on. Very repetitive and superficial. On the bright side you are left with wanting more, so perhaps that was Mr Sellink's goal.
January 28, 2021
An extremely interesting book from which I learnt a great deal. I agree with others that a fold-out page or even two showing the entirety of each painting discussed would have aided at least this reader in seeing the context of the work and each detail discussed. In some cases a description was given that seemed arbitrary; could there be another alternative description? The three peasant girls walking and carrying rakes screamed out to me that the women on the right and left were at odds and the central figure wondering about the dispute. Mother, daughter and daughter-in-law perhaps?
As an elderly woman with poor eyesight I found the font size in the Portable Edition uncomfortably small as if the size of the main book had simply been reduced without thought to the reader.
I highly recommend the book though.
As an elderly woman with poor eyesight I found the font size in the Portable Edition uncomfortably small as if the size of the main book had simply been reduced without thought to the reader.
I highly recommend the book though.
December 20, 2020
When reading Short Life in a Strange World, I spent a great deal of time pulling up Bruegel paintings online and zooming in to tiny details. I though I was doing pretty well. But it doesn't compare to shoving this particular book close to the face and immersing yourself in the details on the printed page in this oversize book. This book is a perfect size, at the outer limits of something you can rest on your stomach while turning the pages in bed.
You can go through this book as quickly or as slowly as you like. I chose the slow crawl, sometimes reading the text before examining the picture, sometimes the other way around. There's so much going on that it took me quite a while to reluctantly finish.
The book has an elegant solution to the problem of details vs full painting: it places four paintings on each page at the front of the book, numbered for easy reference should you wish to look back the full pictures while looking at a detail. This works quite well. It's true that it would have been nicer to have the full picture in the blank space near each detail - there's room - but I suppose that would have been prohibitively expensive.
You can go through this book as quickly or as slowly as you like. I chose the slow crawl, sometimes reading the text before examining the picture, sometimes the other way around. There's so much going on that it took me quite a while to reluctantly finish.
The book has an elegant solution to the problem of details vs full painting: it places four paintings on each page at the front of the book, numbered for easy reference should you wish to look back the full pictures while looking at a detail. This works quite well. It's true that it would have been nicer to have the full picture in the blank space near each detail - there's room - but I suppose that would have been prohibitively expensive.
February 8, 2016
Wonderful detail, but best as a companion to the author's "Bruegel: The Complete Paintings, Drawings and Prints." This tome focuses on close-up images parts of the artist's oeuvre that enrich the viewer's understanding of their nuance. However, one finds themselves continually referring back to the complete images which are only offered here in miniature.
August 4, 2015
Heerlijk kijkboek. De teksten helpen je bepaalde details verklaren maar zijn niet altijd nodig.
September 7, 2025
As the title of the book indicates, the author breaks down Bruegel’s paintings and sketches into tiny details illustrating the vast complexity of his works. They are fascinating, and it is like seeing several miniature paintings fused together into an entire work.
These details are paintings within the larger painting. It is almost impossible to look at a painting of Bruegel and find an overall unifying theme. It is similar to a lush forest overloaded with all types of flora and fauna. The strength of Bruegel is in the overwhelming details.
The author often refers to the humour found in Bruegel’s works, but some of it is wondrous and strange, much like his predecessor Hieronymus Bosch.
There are many glimpses of the era Bruegel lived in. The author points out that Bruegel lived in a period of religious violence and of starvation in winter. In his paintings we also see the day-to-day enjoyment of existence, whether at festivals, harvesting crops, or children at play.
This book demonstrates the vast cavalcade of figures and emotions present in Bruegel's paintings and sketches.
These details are paintings within the larger painting. It is almost impossible to look at a painting of Bruegel and find an overall unifying theme. It is similar to a lush forest overloaded with all types of flora and fauna. The strength of Bruegel is in the overwhelming details.
The author often refers to the humour found in Bruegel’s works, but some of it is wondrous and strange, much like his predecessor Hieronymus Bosch.
There are many glimpses of the era Bruegel lived in. The author points out that Bruegel lived in a period of religious violence and of starvation in winter. In his paintings we also see the day-to-day enjoyment of existence, whether at festivals, harvesting crops, or children at play.
This book demonstrates the vast cavalcade of figures and emotions present in Bruegel's paintings and sketches.
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May 24, 2024این کتاب با کتابهای نقاشی معمول فرق دارد. به جای تمرکز روی زندگی هنرمند یا بررسی نقاشیها، به بررسی موتیفها و المانهای مشترک در نقاشیهای بروگل میپردازد و جذابترین بخش کتاب این است که از مثال به المان میرسد. نقاشیهای بروگل پر از جزییات است و شاید برای بهتر دیدن هر اثر باید با اینترنت مراجعه کرد تا بشود نقاشیها را بزرگ دید. در این کتاب، در هر فصل بخشی از نقاشیها جدا شده و بعد دربارۀ موتیفهای مشترک بروگل نوشته است. مثلاً دوره و زمانه، آدمها، شکلهای عجیب و غریب، فصلها و چیزهای مختلف. در خواندن همۀ اینها باعث میشود که از دیدن نقاشیهای بروگل لذت بیشتری ببریم چون دقیقتر میدانیم او چه منظوری داشته و چطور به این سبک منحصربهفرد رسیده است.
January 19, 2023
Bruegel himself gets 5 stars, but 3 stars for the accompanying commentary as it was incredibly repetitive.
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April 18, 2026the library should just let me keep it!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews