Pieter Bruegel's historical imagination /

Porras (Tulane Univ.) elucidates the complex relationship between Bruegel's paintings and their various contexts, including the intellectual past and the creation of a Netherlandish historical identity. Many contemporaneous humanists, among them Abraham Ortelius, a patron of Bruegel (1625-69), regarded the painter as the Apelles of his own time. Well educated and imaginative, Bruegel wove levels of meaning throughout his imagery, notably iconoclasm and rivalry with past art and artists. Among the more satisfying sections in this book is an excellent discussion of vernacular antiquity and ruins in the Dutch Republic. Another section links ancient Bacchic revelry with the behavior of the peasants, as Bruegel depicts them in his many paintings of fests. Inextricably tied to this was Bruegel's knowledge of the Italian Renaissance, and his subversion of its formal language with his own. This is a beautifully produced volume with 80 crisp illustrations, many in color. Though the font is small and the smaller illustrations are not easy to interpret, this book is well worth reading for its nuanced interpretation of one of the most popular and beloved painters of the northern Renaissance. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Amy Golahny, Lycoming College