Netherlandish School (Brussels). Father of Peter (“Hell” Brueghel) and Jan (“Velvet” Brueghel).
BRUSSELS
THE FALL OF THE REBELLIOUS ANGELS St. Michael and two angels armed with swords are driving the rebellious spirits into hell,wheretheybecome transformed into strange and grotesque monsters.
Signed BRUEGHEL, MCCCCCLXII.
Attributed to “Hell” Brueghel, and then to Bosch, until in 1898 the signature was discovered.
THE CENSUS AT BETHLEHEM The scene is a Flemish village in the depth of winter, covered with snow. To the left is a rustic booth at which the business of the census, ordered by the Roman Emperor Augustus, is being conducted. In the centre is represented the beginning of ” the Flight into Egypt”; the Virgin, concealing the Child under her mantle, is already mounted on the ass, which Joseph is leading, and the ox follows.
Signed BRVEGHEL, 1566.
A copy by “Hell” Brueghel is in this museum (No. 81), and other copies are at Antwerp, Lille, and Caen.
VIENNA
THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS The scene is again a village in the snow, with houses on the extreme right and left and in the centre back-round. A squadron of cavalry occupies the centre of the picture with upright lances. The rest of the broad snowcovered village street is filled with divers figures of soldiers, peasants, and dogs, vividly depicting the progress of the massacre as it might have happened in the painter’s time and country.
Signed BRUEGHEL.
A copy by “Hell” Brueghel, signed “P. BRVEGHEL,” is at Brussels (No. 80), and other copies are at Hampton Court, Wurzburg, and other places.