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The Harvesters

1565
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 638

This painting originally belonged to a six-part series depicting different times of year that was commissioned by an Antwerp merchant for his country house. This particular scene, usually said to represent the months of July and August, revels in the drowsy heat of harvesttime. Some figures labor in the fields, but others doze, eat, or even skinny-dip (in the far background). While clearly based on Bruegel’s firsthand observation of the cycles of country life, the painting maps realistic detail onto an impossible landscape: it shows a wide-ranging vista from a promontory that could never exist in the lowlands of Bruegel’s native Flanders.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Harvesters
  • Artist: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Netherlandish, Breda (?) ca. 1525–1569 Brussels)
  • Date: 1565
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: Overall, including added strips at top, bottom, and right, 46 7/8 x 63 3/4 in. (119 x 162 cm); original painted surface 45 7/8 x 62 7/8 in. (116.5 x 159.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1919
  • Object Number: 19.164
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Fortitude (Fortitudo) from The Virtues
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ca. 1559–60
Christ and the Disciples on the Way to Emmaus, Pieter Bruegel the Elder Netherlandish, Etching and engraving; second state of two
Christ and the Disciples on the Way to Emmaus
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Philips Galle
1571
A Dutch Hulk and a Boeier from The Sailing Vessels, Pieter Bruegel the Elder Netherlandish, Engraving; first state of two
A Dutch Hulk and a Boeier from The Sailing Vessels
Multiple artists/makers
1565
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, Pieter Bruegel the Elder Netherlandish, Engraving; first state of two
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1560–63
The Parable of the Good Shepherd, Pieter Bruegel the Elder Netherlandish, Engraving; fourth state of four
The Parable of the Good Shepherd
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Philips Galle
1565

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