Genre painting (or petit genre) depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached either individually or collectively—thus distinguishing petit genre from history paintings (also called grand genre) and portraits.
The number of artists who have touched, however briefly, the "peasant genre" are numerous. I have included in this genre gallery a number of artists for whom this genre was significant. Bruegel, during the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance, combined landscapes and the peasantry; moving away from the traditional focus on historical and religious paintings.
- Birth - Death: c 1525-30 (Breda or Bruegel, Netherlands) - 9 September 1569 (Brussels, Hapsburg Netherlands)
- Medium, style: painter, printmaker
- Work: landscapes, peasants, Dutch & Flemish Renaissance
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Pieter Bruegel the Elder has been considered the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting. He is known for his landscapes and scenes of everyday peasant workers. He mastered the technique of making both landscapes and peasants the subjects of his paintings. Bruegel had a strong influence on Dutch Golden Age painting and was one of the first artists to emerge from a period in which religious figures were no longer the main subject matter of painting.
- Birth - Death: Antoine (1600-48), Louis (1603-48), Mathieu (1607-77)
- Medium, style: genre, miniatures, & portrait painting; 17th century France
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