Connoisseurs have learnt to differentiate “the Elder” Brueghel painters from “the Younger” generation and many have their preferences for the work of family scion Pieter Breugel the Elder. But this fall, art lovers are invited to enjoy all the members of this Old Masters dynasty as they are reunited for a new survey spanning an incredible five generations at the Het Noordbrabants Museum in the Netherlands.

Roughly spanning the years 1550-1700, some 80 paintings will chart how one family of outsize artistic talent managed to keep innovating throughout the Dutch Golden Age. The exhibition will explore intergenerational familial connections and influences while also elaborating on the wider network of cultural activity, from significant artists like David Teniers the Younger who married into the family to the wider historical context of colonialism and global trade.

Jan Brueghel the Elder, Vase of Flowers with Jewel, Coins, and Shells (1606). Photo courtesy of Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan.

Standout masterpieces by Pieter Bruegel the Elder include The Magpie on the Gallows (1568), his The Beggars of the same year which is travelling from the Louvre in Paris and a rare public glimpse of The Drunkard Pushed into the Pigsty (1557) from a private collection in New York.

In other cases, close study of detailed miniatures on an intimate scale will introduce visitors to the tiny worlds built up by Jan Brueghel the Elder and his grandson Jan van Kessel the Elder, who he greatly inspired.

Audiences can also expect to be introduced to some less famous names, including women members of the family like the artist Mayken Verhulst. Mother-in-law to Pieter Brueghel the Elder, she played an active role in the education of her grandsons Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Her own practice, too ofter overshadowed by their achievements, included miniature illustrations and watercolours. She was named one of the four most important female artists of the region in Lodovico Guicciardini’s book Description of the Low Countries (1567).

“Brueghel: The Family Reunion” opens at Het Noordbrabants Museum on September 30 until January 7, 2024.

More Trending Stories:  

The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art’s Director Has Resigned After Less Than Two Years, Citing ‘Resistance and Backlash’ 

‘We’re Not All Ikea-Loving Minimalists’: Historian and Author Michael Diaz-Griffith on the Resurgence of Young Antique Collectors 

The First Auction of Late Billionaire Heidi Horten’s Controversial Jewelry Proves Wildly Successful, Raking in $156 Million 

An Airbnb Host Got More Than They Bargained for with a Guest’s Offbeat Art Swap—and the Mystery Has Gone Viral on TikTok 

Not Patriarchal Art History, But Art ‘Herstory’: Judy Chicago on Why She Devoted Her New Show to 80 Women Artists Who Inspired Her 

An Artist Asked ChatGPT How to Make a Popular Memecoin. The Result Is ‘TurboToad,’ and People Are Betting Millions of Dollars on It 

An Elderly Man Spray-Painted a Miriam Cahn Painting at a Paris Museum After Right-Wing Attempts to Censor It Failed 

The Netflix Series ‘Transatlantic’ Dramatizes the Effort to Evacuate Artists From France During World War II. Here’s What Actually Happened in Real Life